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| CPR Newsletter: Securing development, peace and justice for all | |
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Early Recovery Cluster On 8 October 2005, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck the northern parts of Pakistan and India. In Pakistan, Pakistan Administered Kashmir and the North Western Frontier Province suffered the most severe impacts. More than 73,000 people were killed and approximately 3.5 million affected. The earthquake damaged or fully destroyed an estimated 600,000 houses, countless health facilities, schools and colleges, as well as government buildings—killing many doctors, teachers, community leaders and government officials. Eight months after the earthquake, the humanitarian situation in the affected regions has been stabilized through the concerted efforts of national authorities and the international and local humanitarian community. The challenge to assist with the recovery and rebuilding efforts still remains. At the outset of the emergency, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) partners decided to apply the general principles of the humanitarian cluster approach to this disaster in view of the particular humanitarian challenges of this crisis. Consequently, the Humanitarian Coordinator assigned to UNDP the role of lead agency for the Early Recovery Cluster that had been created in Islamabad. For the first time, UNDP was faced with a dual function of having to perform as cluster lead agency and as an operational agency with field-based recovery programmes in affected areas. Since the cluster approach was a novel approach, little guidance was available to UN agencies, the larger humanitarian community, and national authorities on how to effectively implement the cluster approach. In the case of the Early Recovery Cluster, this was compounded by the relatively subordinate priority assigned to early recovery efforts given the pressing demands of ongoing life-saving operations. Despite these challenges, the Early Recovery Cluster helped to ensure that early recovery considerations were present throughout the emergency response phase. In particular, the Cluster demonstrated a strong coordination role during the assessment, priority setting and strategic planning stage of the early recovery process. Based on a joint preliminary assessment of needs in the most affected areas, an Early Recovery Framework was prepared by November 2005. This Framework aimed to bridge the gap between immediate relief and long-term reconstruction and focused on identifying a set of concrete interventions to be implemented in a range of priority sectors. When compared with strategic planning for recovery following the tsunami disaster, this response was exceptionally fast. However, due to the unavailability of a dedicated resource mobilization mechanism for early recovery, it was not possible to use this framework as effectively as it should have been. The recently launched 12-month Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA)-UN Early Recovery Plan, is a follow-up document to the Early Recovery Framework and presents updated programme proposals in priority sectors to help articulate how existing pledges can be turned into operational interventions on the ground. An overview of the initial progress in early recovery, ‘Snapshot of Early Recovery Initiatives in Pakistan’ (published March 2006) is available online at UNDP Pakistan’s website.
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