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Pakistan

Safeer, 20, puts wood in the stove his family received from Catholic Relief Services as part of their shelter kit [Jim Stipe]

On 8 October 2005, a massive earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit northern Pakistan, killing 73,320, injuring 70,000 and leaving more than 3.3 million homeless

Approximately 30,000 square miles were hit by the quake, and nine districts were affected in total.

CAFOD spent £921,000 in Pakistan in 2008

Whole villages slipped down the side of hillsides; homes, schools, hospitals and government buildings collapsed, tens of thousands of livestock were lost, and many people who would normally help during an emergency, such as doctors, were killed.

Key challenges

Destruction of homes: Accessing government reconstruction grants is a slow process, and several areas have been classified as "red zones" meaning no-one is allowed to rebuild there, due to a high risk of further earthquakes. The government estimates that it will be 2010 before rebuilding is complete.

Loss of health facilities and staff: Many hospitals, health centres and their staff were lost in the earthquake, and the risk of infection and disease was high, because of the injuries people suffered and as a consequence of poor sanitation and cramped living conditions.

Disruption of livelihoods: Many abandoned city jobs and rushed back home to look after their loved ones, damaging individual families’ income as well as the economy. Up to 70% of crops were destroyed, and half of livestock in the affected regions killed.

Loss of schools and teachers: Around 10,000 schools were destroyed and thousands of school children and teachers killed. Many children were traumatised to venture into the new classrooms rising from the rubble.

Nizakat, aged 14, arranges some items in his family's new shelter. [Jim Stipe]

CRS Pakistan

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Pakistan have provided families with winterised tents and tools to build their own shelters, as well as re-opening tented schools and providing teaching materials

Blankets are distributed to families affected by the earthquake [Jim Stipe]

Islamic Relief

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, Islamic Relief provided essential items including: tents, quilts, plastic sheeting, kitchen sets and blankets

Caritas Pakistan

Caritas Pakistan is responding to the needs of survivors after the earthquake focusing their efforts on longer-term health and livelihoods work

Survivors sit outside their collapsed house after an earthquake in Ziarat October 29, 2008 [REUTERS/Rizwan Saeed, courtesy www.alertnet.org]

Pakistan earthquake: CAFOD partners helping

CAFOD partners in Pakistan are helping those affected by the huge earthquake in Baluchistan province at the end of October

Nasreen in her vegetable garden, Pakistan. [Caritas]

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

South Asia Earthquake

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

A doctor treats patients at a medical clinic in northern Pakistan [Nana Anto-Awuakye]

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

Advent Appeal 2008

Please send a message of support to kids this Advent at a special school run by a CAFOD partner

Shine a light in the darkness

Please sign our petition calling on the world's largest mining company to listen to communities in the Philippines worried about the effect mining will have on their land - plus send a personal message of solidarity to the people of Macambol

World Gifts 2008: Gifts that make a world of difference

Buy a World Gift

Browse our new range of alternative gifts that act as two presents in one – something for you to give to friends or a relative, while the real gift changes the life of someone living in poverty

Published on 13/04/2005, last updated on 01/10/2008

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