Completion on Pakistan earthquake wintering support

The project “provision of winterized tents and associated non-food items and psychosocial support to earthquake affected people in Mirpur District, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Pakistan”, which has been implemented since mid-January this year, has been completed. We distributed winterized tents, plastic mattresses, and plastic sheets as emergency relief supplies, such as, to 640 households severely damaged by the earthquake.

At the same time, we implemented psychosocial education sessions in communities for people who were affected by the earthquake and were  worried about rebuilding from scratch. We were able to implement this project with the warm support of the Japan Platform and everyone. We express our deepest gratitude for the efforts of all those supporting this project.

In the middle of March, due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection, meetings and outdoor activities were banned in the Kashmir region, making temporarily difficult to implement this project. However, thanks to the cooperation of the members of the women's committee established in the business area of ​​Mirpur prefecture to receive complaints and inquiries, we could continue the work, such as checking the usage status of the winter tent.

We could continue implementing psychosocial education sessions  by switching alternatives such as FM radio broadcasting, local TV, and social media.　In addition, “people who participated in JEN study group as contact points for residents” who could connect the victims with severe psychosocial distress to experts and related parties supported the distribution of the booklet.

In the implementation of this project focusing on mental care, earthquake victims could survive the cold in a winter tent and learned how to get out of psychological pain, and we could connect those with severe conditions to specialists". We are grateful for the successful completion with the cooperation of the residents.

JEN could hand over the psychosocial education-related IEC(Information, Education and Communication) materials to the local resident of Samwal Sharif town in Mirpur district.