FOCUS
Rebuilding communities
Promoting Health and Fighting Disease
Alleviating Hunger
Creating Economic Opportunities

MDGs ADDRESSED
MDG 1: Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education
MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
MDG 4: Reduce child mortality
MDG 5: Improve maternal health
MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
MDG 8: Create a global partnership for development

OVERVIEW
The devastating 7.6 magnitude earthquake that shook Pakistan in October 2005—the worst natural disaster in the country’s history—left 87,000 people dead and up to four million displaced. The remote North West Frontier Province (NWFP) suffered some of the worst damage. Most of the housing, schools, commercial and government buildings were destroyed. Business, farming, social service delivery, communications, and basic government services ceased to function. More than two years after the quake, hundreds of thousands are still without permanent shelter and are relying on humanitarian relief to survive.

The earthquake also devastated the Ghaziabad district in the densely populated Punjab province on the Indian border. Ninety percent of the houses were either damaged or destroyed. Evaluations of the area after the earthquake found that sixty to seventy percent of the population no longer had access to medical facilities.

Our PARTNERS
In the hard-hit NWFP, Episcopal Relief and Development is partnering with the Diocese of Peshawar. The diocese has more than 100 years of experience providing health care in the region through local clinics and the Mission Hospital, established in 1904.

The Diocese of Sialkot is Episcopal Relief and Development’s partner in Punjab province, where Ghaziabad is located. The diocese encompasses 23 towns and 243 villages, and has pastoral responsibility of 150,000 members.

Our CURRENT PROGRAMS
The severity of the devastation from the earthquake requires long-term assistance. Episcopal Relief and Development will be working with the Diocese of Peshawar for up to five years to rebuild and re-develop six mountain villages known as Pateka, near Ghari Habibullah in the NWFP. This integrated program includes rebuilding housing and schools, restoring farms and businesses, meeting basic health care needs and establishing permanent health services and developing community based organizations.

Episcopal Relief and Development is especially excited by the opportunities this work has provided for improving Muslim-Christian relations in this troubled part of Pakistan. Gains are being made in gender sensitivity as well, as the community has voted to include female representatives in the community–based organization. For the first time, boys and girls are attending classes together up to level seven.

Through Episcopal Relief and Development’s support of the Mashogoga Clinic, a new extension activity of the Mission Hospital in Peshawar, an underserved population will now have access to low-cost health care. Episcopal Relief and Development has helped the hospital to invest in some ophthalmic equipment which will in turn generate revenue for the hospital. After three years, including a gradual cost recovery strategy, the Mashogoga clinic will be self-supporting.

In Ghaziabad, located in Punjab province, Episcopal Relief and Development is focusing on meeting critical health care needs by continuing to support the Basic Health Unit and mobile health services managed by the Christian Hospital of the Diocese of Sialkot.

Rebuilding Communities
Episcopal Relief and Development is supporting the rebuilding and development of six villages in the Pateka area, through an integrated approach that will strengthen the community for the long-term. This includes building housing, education, health care infrastructure, and developing economic opportunities.

• Rebuilding up to 300 houses, including kitchen and detached bath provides earthquake-resistant homes in an area prone to natural disasters.
• Constructing and supporting a school provides local education for approximately 200 boys and girls through the ninth level.
• Developing community-based organizations empowers residents to take an active role in community affairs.
• Building clean water systems, including drainage and sanitation, provides safe source of water for over 2,000 people.
• Repairing the road into Pateka allows access to safely travel in and out of the area.

Promoting Health and Fighting Disease
Episcopal Relief and Development is meeting the immediate health care needs of people displaced by the earthquake. Working with both diocesan partners, Episcopal Relief and Development support ensures that there will be long-term health care services in the two affected regions, as well as a third area outside Peshawar, Mashogoga, where extreme poverty is rampant.

• The Shawal Basic Health Unit, established immediately after the earthquake, provides on-going health care to more than 18,000 people, and includes a new tuberculosis program.
• A permanent basic health unit in Pateka and mobile health services reach isolated communities in the mountainous area of Ghari Habibullah.
• Six women from Pateka have been trained as “lady health visitors” and now work in the Shawal and Pateka clinics.
• Free or low fee medical, gynecological and ophthalmology services meet the needs of an underserved population of 27,000 at the Mashogoga clinic in Ghaziabad. (Outreach program of the Diocese of Peshawar Mission Hospital.)
• The Basic Health Unit in Ghaziabad, established after the earthquake, serves up to 30,000 outpatients, and up to 450 inpatients; conducts monthly health education sessions for youth and community members (topics such as hepatitis, HIV, family planning, sanitation), and provides staff training in pharmacy, laboratory, accountancy and midwifery.

Alleviating Hunger
Episcopal Relief and Development is helping families reestablish their farms and improve their ability to grow nutritious food in six villages in the earthquake-devastated Pateka area.

• Restocking buffalo and poultry stock increases the food supply and creates income generating opportunities.
• Purchasing two tractors for community farming projects and other equipment improves the quality of the produce and cuts down on the time spent in hard manual labor.
• Replanting 5000 fruit trees stabilizes soil, diversifies diet and nutrient intake and generates income for the communities.

Creating Economic Opportunities
Episcopal Relief and Development is providing opportunities for families in six villages affected by the earthquake in the Pateka area to improve their skills and create new sources of income.

• Loans to re-open three community shops allow families to earn a living and provide supplies and services for local residents.
• Schools for children and literacy classes for adults ensure people have the education and skills they need to get jobs and earn income.
• Six women’s sewing centers train women to produce clothes and other items for home use.
• Literacy training teaches groups of 20 people to provide literacy education in each community.
• A cost recovery rental fee structure for farming and construction equipment provides the Pateka Community Based Organization with funds to maintain the school and undertake other community improvements.

Our PAST ACHIEVEMENTS
Episcopal Relief and Development’s partnership with the Dioceses of Peshawar and Sialkot began in the immediate aftermath of the 2005 earthquake. Episcopal Relief and Development assisted in the following ways:

• Provided emergency supplies including tents, blankets, warm clothing, kerosene stoves, clean water, and shelter materials to more than 25,000 persons.
• Completed earthquake resistant structures to house staff serving the Shawal Basic Health Unit.
• Constructed classrooms and staff rooms for two middle schools at Ghaziabad and Ghari Dopata.
• Established emergency health unit in Ghaziabad, supported medical teams, and mobile health clinics in remote areas in need of direct assistance. More than 2700 received care in the first 45 days.
• Set up a basic health unit at an army camp village in Balakot. More than 4,000 people received treatment.
• Transported patients to the base medical camp at Muzafarabad where teams of doctors and surgeons treated victims and performed minor surgeries. Those requiring major surgeries and care were referred and transported to Christian Hospital Sialkot, Mission Hospital in Peshawar and army hospitals.
• Delivered food, bedding, and other emergency supplies to more than 2,500 people.
• Provided medical care to 1,800 people through mobile health units.