October 8th, 2017 marked 12 years since the catastrophic earthquake of 2005 that hit northern Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: October 8th, 2017 marked 12 years since the catastrophic earthquake of 2005 that hit northern Pakistan. However, many of the promises made to the displaced people and rebuilding projects announced never saw the light of the day. According to a report, several educational and training institutions, along with other infrastructure installations, await to be rebuilt or repaired, due to the delay possibly caused by the slow correspondence between the provincial and federal governments. While homage is paid to the dead every year, those alive still hope to see revival of their livelihoods as before.
Millions received as aid from other countries never reached those in need and were pocketed by the corrupt. Instances of dry, staple food items being sold in local markets were repeatedly reported in the media. Subsequent governments too kept changing and rejecting programmes and initiatives of previous ones. As per a report by Unicef, damaged caused to schools and deaths that occurred were doubled due to the faulty structure of buildings in the areas. Yet no significant changes have been made to the construction and design of buildings. Also successive governments have clearly not learnt lessons from the past to deal with any such unfortunate calamity in the future, considering the fact that due to climate change and its geographical placement, Pakistan is vulnerable to such calamities more often than other countries in South Asia.
Amna Ahad
Published in The Express Tribune, October 10th, 2017.
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