25pc of Hazara infrastructure destroyed by 2005 earthquake not rebuilt

MANSEHRA: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority, which will cease to exist by the end of the current year, has failed to reconstruct around 25 per cent of the schools, health centres and infrastructure destroyed by the 2005 earthquake in Hazara Division, reveals a report.

An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck Hazara division on Oct 8, 2005, destroying 7,053 schools, healthcare and other buildings along with infrastructure in Mansehra and other areas but 5,410 of them have been reconstructed, according to a report compiled by the Perra.

It added that the remaining schools and health centres had been functioning in makeshift buildings and tents for many years. The report revealed that 405 buildings were in different phases of reconstruction, while work on 781 has yet to get underway.

An official told Dawn requesting anonymity that Perra no longer existed in the real sense of the term.

Disaster survivors demand early completion of work

“The [Provincial Rehabilitation and Reconstruction] Authority is going to wind out its operations at the end of the current year,” he said.

The official said the provincial government didn’t release funds to the Perra for reconstruction and even the groundbreaking for 781 schemes, including schools and health facilities, hadn’t taken place in Mansehra district.

He said the earthquake destroyed 2,927 schools and colleges and only 1,931 of them had so far been reconstructed.

“A total of 626 educational institutions await rebuilding,” he said.

The official said 165 health centres were destroyed by the 2005 earthquake and 128 of them had been reconstructed, while work on the rest had yet to begin.

He added that the natural disaster ruined 7,053 buildings of education, forest, district administrations, health, agriculture and livestock), medical rehabilitation, power, social welfare, town planning, communication, water and sanitation sectors and 5,410 of them had been rebuilt and 457 “rationalised,” while 405 were under construction.

The official said the reconstruction of 781 buildings in those eleven sectors had yet to start.

Earthquake survivors from Balakot and Garlat Red Zone demanded the early reconstruction of infrastructure and buildings, especially schools and health centres.

Former president of the district bar association Munir Hussain Lughmani told Dawn that a nongovernmental organisation built a modern health facility in Hassan area of Balakot tehsil five years ago but the government had yet to make it functional.

Chairman of the Garlat neighbourhood council Malik Maroof complained that the schools destroyed by the 2005 earthquake were functioning in shelters as the government hadn’t released funds for their reconstruction.