A Permanent Solution

MUZAFFARABAD—“You are not building houses, you are building graves for your children,” Saeed Iqbal warned villagers in Upper Kabbabat, Muzaffarabad (right), referring to those houses that are being rebuilt without basic earthquake resistant technology.

Iqbal is the field coordinator for TCF Relief Fund, run by The Citizens’ Foundation. TCF is the largest education-based NGO in South Asia, and in its 11 years of existence, it has provided education to over 25,000 Pakistani children. On October 10th, its board decided to join the relief effort in Muzaffarabad and Balakot.

They designed winter shelters (left) covered with GI sheets that were replicated and disseminated throughout the affected areas.

With the relief phase over, TCF Relief Fund has turned its focus to rebuilding. The organization has received enough donations from Pakistani corporations and individual donors throughout the world to rebuild at least 1,300 homes in various villages around Muzaffarabad city.

“We are training the masons and homeowners of those villages on the new construction method,” said Iqbal. “Then we provide them with all the building materials and monitor the work to its completion.” The homeowners will use their government-issue rebuilding money to transport the materials to their village and for any labor costs they incur. In this way, the homeowner feels that he has invested in his home, and will be more likely to maintain it properly, according to Iqbal.

During his meeting with Upper Kabbabat villagers Friday, Iqbal explained that TCF could only provide 45 homes to the village of 118 families. TCF Relief Fund does not determine who among the villagers should receive the homes, even though they have independent survey data on the needs in the villages. Part of sustainable development and empowerment is allowing them to decide together who is deserving, he said.

“Look among you for those who are most in need—widows without supporters, families without assets—and decide who deserves these homes,” Iqbal told the Upper Kabbabat villagers. “This world will come and go. This is your opportunity to do something noble and help someone who is in need.”

For Iqbal, the most important aspect of TCF’s work is education. By building the homes, they hope to create models that others will replicate when making new houses. They have a special focus on teaching women the building methods so that children will be taught how to build structures properly. This is especially important because another earthquake is expected, if not in this generation, then in the next.

“This earthquake taught us a lot of lessons. We won’t forget this earthquake,” said Iqbal. “If we do then we are the ones who will suffer again.”