Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide grant of 5 million dollar to help poor households affected by earthquake in Pakistan begin restoring their livelihoods.
The most debilitating natural disaster in Pakistan's history affected about 3.5 million people and at least 80 percent of the population in the affected areas remains homeless, says a press release.
The grant, from ADB's Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), financed by the government of Japan, will target between 8,000 and 10,000 poor and vulnerable households in the largely inaccessible earthquake-affected areas.
In co-ordination with government agencies and non-governmental organisations, the project will provide households living at higher altitudes with material for the cultivation of spring crops, such as maize, fodder, and vegetables. Landless community members will be given small amounts of livestock and poultry, including shelters and feeds.
The earthquake damaged about 70 percent of the harvested and standing crops, and killed about half of the animals. Irrigation and soil conservation structures, as well as livestock shelters were extensively damaged.
"The most urgent needs are subsistence-level crop and livestock husbandry activities to ensure food-security for the landless and those who lost their livestock, and the shelters to stop livestock from perishing in the cold of the Himalayan winter," says Ahsan Tayyab, an ADB Project Economist.
In addition, small-scale facilities, such as drinking water supplies, will be rehabilitated as needed. Damage to natural resources, roads, buildings, and communications networks keeps the affected households from continuing their livelihood activities, and thus threatens food security.
The government and participating organisations will contribute $200,000 equivalent in-kind toward the project's total cost of 5.2 million dollar. The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock will be the executive agency.
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