THE RELIEF WORK IS FAR FROM OVER.
Asian Women’s Solidarity Visit to the Earthquake-affected communities in Kashmir, May 27, 2006


“The present situation of the landless communities still living in tent village with highly inadequate facilities is appalling. Where has the international relief and rehabilitation support gone? Where is the government here?” asks a Korean human rights lawyer, upon returning yesterday from Hatian Bala. She is part of the just concluded 3-day Asian Women’s Solidarity Visit to the Earthquake-affected communities in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

This is the most nagging question on the minds of the Asian women as they went to visit and have a dialogue with the women staying in the Hatian Bala village tent, with 130 tents housing 141 joint families.

The 141 families in the tent village are still living in 4-person tents. Most of these are joint families with an average of 8-10 people inside the tent.

“At night, I would just lay down and wait for the light to come, so I can come out of the tent. It is like hell in there,” says a mother living with 4 children, her husband, and her ailing father-in-law. She lost two children in the earthquake. During these summer nights, the men would sleep outside, while it is not generally acceptable for women and girl-children to do so. “I would constantly look around as snakes and scorpions would come at night. I really long for our house in the mountains. It was heaven up there.”

The water sources is yet another immediate concern in the village. The piped water sources are broken and not repaired. The consequences are borne by the women and girl-children as they have to go out of their areas to fetch water and bear abuse laid down to them at the hands of men in the adjoining communities.

The 141 families in the tent village mostly came from the communities in the Neelum Valley. Almost the entire mountain fell down creating a mass grave of 700 inhabitants.

“It has been nearly 8 months since the earthquake. The government of Pakistan which has in essence absolute control over earthquake relief resources and is the policy-making institution, has failed to respond to the many immediate needs of the survivors. And by survivors, we mean both women and men,” says Titi Soentoro, from Indonesia and the Regional Coordinator of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD). “This is a consistent malady of disaster response. The particular needs of women are always neglected.” Soentoro was leading one of the few Indonesian women human rights groups which responded to the needs of Aceh women after the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004. “Even the basic needs of women are absent in the distributed relief goods. As an example, there is not enough fabric for the women clothing to meet their different needs - for summer, winter, and especially during their menstrual period.”

“We saw very few women social workers in the area. It is critical to have them so women can share with them their particular needs which would be difficult to tell to male social workers. This is one of the things we have learned in Aceh – women talk freely to women about their needs. Then we would be able to respond to these accordingly.”

During the women’s dialogue in the village tent, one of the other persistent needs that came up was the permanent settlement in their own land. “Just one plot is all we ask - where we can make space for our kids, and can sleep in peace,” says one woman who lives with 8 people in her tent. “With our own land, we can figure out how to earn a living.”

According to Ravadee Prasertcharounsek, from Thailand, “The government should be able to respond with a long-term plan. While the people need immediate relief, the issue of land should be settled now to have a long-term development impact on their lives.” Prasertcharounsek is the coordinator of Save Andaman Network (SAN), a national coalition in Thailand, which is implementing sustainable development projects in tsunami-affected communities.

“We should be able to turn disasters into opportunities. A lot of women have lost their husbands and their fathers. The government should recognize this and provide lands to the landless, even to women who now stand as heads of the household.”

Indeed, a lot of things have yet to be done. But where are the government agencies which were tasked to address these issues? Azra Talat Sayeed, the executive director of Pakistani organization Roots for Equity, criticized Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA) for not delivering its commitment for a settlement plan, which was supposed is to be finalized as late as June, eight months after the disaster has struck. Now, it is already too late as the oncoming monsoon is expected by July, which will leave thousands vulnerable in the light of expected disastrous and massive land slides. This plan in actuality should have been finalized and made available before thousands of the earthquake survivors were forced to go back to their villages in March earlier this year. Now a majority of disbursements have already been made for reconstruction and still no policy on reconstruction of houses.”

As a concrete result of the visit, the Asian women have come out with policy recommendations: concrete, realistic and immediate settlement for the landless communities, particularly in Hatian Bala; land registration in the name of women; and facilitation of opening of bank accounts in the name of women, who have been affected by the earthquake. This set of recommendations will be given to ERRA as well as to the relevant government agencies of Pakistan.

The Asian Women Solidarity Visit to the Earthquake Affected areas in Kashmir were also participated in by women human rights activists from the Philippines, Burma, Cambodia and Mongolia. Roots for Equity, a Pakistani non-government organization, and a member of APWLD, organized the visit, from May 24-27, 2006.