Over 80,000 people are reported to have died and more than three million rendered homeless by the 7.6-magnitude quake. An estimated half a million homes were destroyed.
Habitat’s resource center in Balakot, 200 km. north of the capital Islamabad, is now starting to operate. And soon another 20,000 people could be benefiting from Habitat’s rebuilding program.
Eager to move on, the earthquake survivors have started to reconstruct their houses using the same materials and methods as before the quake.
To address the problem, trained personnel in the Habitat resource center’s mobile teams will help homeowners to modify the construction methods such as adding a specially designed angle iron to keep the joints intact.
In early March, Habitat will start to send the mobile teams from the Balakot to train the homeowners and provide them with materials to strengthen their houses. Two teams will each visit five families a day. Each team is expected to assist 1,500 families in a year.
Through the assistance of the mobile teams, Habitat for Humanity will have a direct impact on the living conditions of 21,000 people (based on an estimate of seven members in each family visited). And the benefits will extend to another 10,000 people who learn from the homeowners whom Habitat has helped.