Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction Authority (Erra) has planned to hold a conference here in August next to generate funds from philanthropists to bridge the gap between amount collected and the expected expenditure on rehabilitation and reconstruction in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and NWFP.
Erra Deputy Chairman Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmad during an interaction with the media here on Tuesday said Erra would also sought logistic support and physical involvement of NGOs in rehabilitation and reconstruction operation within the parameters set by the authority.
He said they saw a big response from the people of Karachi in the light of their frontline role in rescue and relief operations after last October's earthquake in AJK and NWFP. There is a strong sentiment of philanthropy in Karachi, he remarked.
He said the rehabilitation and reconstruction work would take around four years to complete as it was really a big task confronting logistics supply and weather challenges besides shortage of skilled manpower.
He said all the constructions would be seismic resistant to minimise the possible human and material loss in case of earthquakes in future.
He underlined the need for behavioural change among the people regarding the construction of houses and other facilities.
"In the past, people went for constructions on adhoc basis. This tendency needs to be corrected in their own benefit," he said.
He said the government was trying to involve local populations in the relief and reconstruction operation to the maximum level for promoting the sense of ownership among them.
He said the government was seriously considering the plan that nation-wide survey should be carried out to identify the constructions vulnerable to earthquake especially in big cities. On completion of the survey, the steps would be suggested to make that quake resistant.
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