South Asia Earthquake

A boy learns how to use a tap built by CRS Pakistan using CAFOD funds. The original water supply was damaged after the October 2005 earthquake, and the new taps are providing safe drinking water [Lucy Morris]

CAFOD has been training people in kitchen gardening and how to look after livestock, as well as installing new water systems in Pakistan following the 2005 earthquake

CAFOD has been helping communities in Pakistan and Indian-administered Kashmir rebuild their lives after the earthquake that hit in October 2005.

Local church organisation, Caritas Pakistan, has been running mobile health clinics while rebuilding three health units for people in remote areas.

How much has been spent

Altogether, more than £5.5 million has been raised for work in areas affected by the earthquake in South Asia, and so far CAFOD has paid more than £4.7 million to partners working in the region

Helping disabled people

It has also provided training for more than 360 men and women in areas such as kitchen gardening, tailoring and how to look after livestock.

Caritas Pakistan helps communities better cope with future disasters by training them in first aid and rescue techniques. Training includes how to move injured people from collapsed buildings and first aid.

CAFOD has also been funding Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to repair and install community water systems, so people have easy access to clean safe water.

We are also working with the Society of Disabled Women, which has set up four independent living centres.

Here, women are offered physiotherapy and counselling, given access to sewing machines and adult education classes and supported in taking a more active role in their communities.

Staff at another local organisation, International Catholic Migration Commission, are teaching rural communities about the legal rights of disabled people and widows, as well as helping people to draw up village development plans.

This enables local people to take the lead in identifying the improvements they want to see in their village, and access government funding to pay for health centres, schools or new roads.

section highlights

Watch how CAFOD helped survivors of the Pakistan earthquake, and how interfaith work with Islamic Relief in Iran and Lebanon got help to those that needed it most View in a full-screen player

As you sow you shall reap Following the Pakistan earthquake in 2005, CAFOD's partner Caritas Pakistan is helping people like Nasreen (on the left) to make a better life for themselves by helping them to grow vegetables and look after their livestock Read Nasreen's story

Clinics provide vital care Dr Javed Khawaja, the health programme manager for Caritas Pakistan, describes how a Caritas clinic visiting a remote area in northern Pakistan saved a young girl after a serious fall

give to the emergency response fund

Give to our Emergency Response Fund

Donate to support CAFOD's initial response to a disaster, and the emergency which follows - such as an earthquake, flood, cyclone, hurricane, or drought. Your gift really can make a difference