Dilemma over new quake shelters
By Aamer Ahmed Khan
BBC News,
Fakhre Alam is one of
Since 8 October, he has been in the earthquake zone as a relief worker at the Chatta Batta tent village in
"Only a few days ago, a man with three children came up from one of the tents and pleaded with me to allow him to light a bonfire in his tent," he says.
There had been a few fire incidents in tent villages by that time and Alam had no option but to say no.
He thinks setting up tent villages was a bad idea.
"He went back but I could hear him muttering, 'All my children will die'," Alam recalls.
"Corrugated iron sheets, nails and hammer is all that we need," says Akhtar Abbassi, a resident of Bambian in the Neelam valley.
Like thousands of others, Akhtar was able to pull wooden planks out of the debris but does not have the iron sheets that can be used for a roof or tools to put the structure together.
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Relief commanders say they shifted their focus to shelter, especially in the high altitude areas, well over two weeks ago.
But they say their effort has been slowed down by the lack of response from private donors and NGOs.
One reason for this could be the private donors' obsession with prefabricated structures.
....Their prices range from about $1,200 (£680) for a single-room house ...However, none of the major prefab companies are manufacturing locally...Even if enough were available, it would be next to impossible to transport these 400kg structures to high-altitude areas - many still without roads passable even by jeep.
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Besides, before placing their orders most of them were forced to wait for the government to announce its policy on reconstruction, which came in the last week of November.
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Only time can now tell how much this desire to do more rather than the obvious is going to end up costing the affected people in high-altitude areas.
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