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PAKISTAN: Spotlight on severely disabled 2005 quake survivors

01 Sep 2009 09:22:14 GMT
Source: IRIN

Background

• Pakistan quake 2008

• Pakistan-India quake 2005

• Children

• Earthquakes

ISLAMABAD, 1 September 2009 (IRIN) - Dozens of people who suffered spinal cord injuries in the October 2005 earthquake in northern Pakistan are still seeking suitable accommodation and an opportunity to rebuild lives.

The quake killed 73,000 people and left 3.3 million homeless, according to official figures. Nearly four years on, most survivors have resumed normal life, but there are groups who remain in urgent need of help.

Immediately after the quake some 700 people who had suffered spinal cord injuries were identified. Most were women and children injured in their homes or schools as thousands of structures collapsed.

Since the quake, some 150 have died, according to Muhammad Zahoor-uddin of the Hashoo Foundation, an Islamabad-based NGO. Through its Spinal Cord Injury Project for Pakistan Earthquake Rehabilitation (SCIPPER), the NGO, backed by funds raised by Pakistanis in North America, supports 33 of the victims, most of whom are paraplegic.

Many of the survivors have returned home, sometimes because they had no other options.

"When we feel we have given proper medical, psychological and physiotherapy treatment to the patients, we discharge them. We tell them to come to us whenever there is any problem," Maria Khalid, deputy head for spinal injury patients at the National Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM) in Islamabad, told IRIN.

NIRM housed the largest number of patients with spinal cord injuries after the quake, when 160 were admitted there; it still accommodates 50, "most of them women".

Mountains not wheelchair-friendly

Zahoor-uddin told IRIN conditions were unsuitable in the mountain villages where most of these people came from. "The footpaths are not accessible by wheelchair, there are no healthcare facilities, often no toilets in homes, and it is very difficult for wheelchair-bound people to manage. They suffer bed sores and infections because of a lack of management. Sending them back is like condemning them to death," Zahoor-uddin said.

He also alleged that many patients at NIRM and other hospitals had been forced to return to their villages.

NIRM's Khalid refuted the claims. "We have never forced anyone to leave," she said.

She said the fact that the victims lived in far-flung areas was "a big problem" in terms of access to care, but "we re-admit them if needed."

The key issue for disabled quake survivors is suitable accommodation. "I was caught under the rubble of the building housing my electronics shop in Muzaffarabad [capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir]. I was rescued only after many hours," said Muhammad Ali Butt, 35, who is now confined to a wheelchair.

"He had to be pulled out forcefully, without any proper equipment, and that caused the worst injuries to his spine," his wife, Farah Ali Butt, told IRIN.

Muhammad Butt now offers assistance to others with similar injuries, promoting independent living. However, the couple said the rented accommodation they live in, at Bari Imam on the outskirts of Islamabad, was unsuitable as it was very difficult to get transport, reach the main road or negotiate the narrow alleys in a wheelchair.

Abandoned

The plight of some female survivors is even worse. "The situation of the women still at the National Institute for Handicapped (NIHD) in Islamabad is pretty desperate. Most of them have been abandoned and have no homes or families that will take them back," Kamila Jeevanjee, a US-based activist supporting those with spinal cord injuries, told IRIN.

"Living together near Islamabad in a small community of disabled-friendly homes would be the perfect solution for these women. The government needs to donate land for this," Jeevanjee said during her recent visit to Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the Hashoo Foundation recently inaugurated a disabled-friendly home in Muzaffarabad for Irshad Bibi, a wheelchair-bound mother of four, who since the quake has struggled to survive in grim conditions, for the most part in tents with poor ventilation and virtually non-existent sanitation.

The pre-fabricated, four-room structure Irshad Bibi now lives in has changed her life. All the rooms, including the bathroom and kitchen are fully wheel-chair accessible. "This structure cost US$9,000. We need more like it," said Zahoor-uddin.

There are other victims with spinal cord injuries who have nowhere to go. They include women such as Salma Akhtar, 23, from a village near Bagh in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Salma remains at NIRM with her young daughter and has no links with her family. Her husband has divorced her and with only an eighth-grade education, she would struggle to support herself even if housing were provided.

"The problems of the patients with spinal cord injuries are very grave. They need help so they can be as independent as possible. They need housing. Most of them do not want to depend on others for ever," said Farah Butt.

kh/at/cb

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