IUCN Pakistan



Hearing their voices: The Women and Children in the Earthquake Affected Areas of Pakistan

In Pakistan, the October 8 earthquake left widespread destruction in the AJK and eastern NWFP. Many people especially women and children were killed, thousands were handicapped and millions became homeless. It hit hard the already fragile economy of the area with the social service delivery and communication infrastructure being badly affected. Vulnerable groups, mainly women and children living in inaccessible mountain areas with low levels of income and service provision, bore the brunt of the earthquake.

The government of Pakistan and national and international organisations have
established camps in the earthquake-affected areas and nearby districts where the affectees have been given tents, food and other relief goods. Other people have chosen to stay in tents near their collapsed houses.

Various assessment reports have been prepared by agencies and organizations involved in the earthquake relief/reconstruction effort but they lack the gender perspective. They are quiet about the hardships, feelings and sentiments of the women and children in these affected areas.

This report provides an insight, through interviews and observations, into the issues faced by women and children. It assesses the relief efforts to highlight the extent to which issues specific to women and children are being addressed in the camps and provide recommendations for their redress. Recommendations for gender-responsive reconstruction and rehabilitation activities will be provided subsequently.

IUCN is the world's largest environmental knowledge network and has helped over 75 countries to prepare and implement national conservation and biodiversity strategies. It is actively involved in natural disaster management, particularly in Asia, and is developing strategies for ecosystem rehabilitation in the earthquake affected areas in Pakistan. It has already commissioned several assessments concerning the affects of the earthquake on humans and nature. IUCN Pakistan initiated this study to get deeper understanding of the issues faced by women and children in the earthquake affected areas so that the organization’s future strategies are informed and sensitive to their needs.

Khwendo Kor—a Pushto term meaning ‘Sisters Home’—was established with the objective of disseminating and promoting female education in the rugged and dry plains and mountains of NWFP where no developmental work of a similar nature had ever been undertaken. KK undertook this study as a woman’s organization practically working in the earthquake area.

Download Report