Water environmental and sanitation status in disaster relief of Pakistan’s 2005 earthquake

The earthquake of 8 October, 2005, severely affected the existing drinking water-supply and sanitation systems in five districts of Pakistan. Wells and springs reported significant reduction in yield with water sources buried under land slides along with considerable damage of sewerage networks, drains, and related infrastructure. In response to the tragedy, the Government of Pakistan, in collaboration with international development partners UNICEF, UNDP, etc., launched a water and sanitation (WS) emergency relief program. The program entailed restoration of water-supply systems, laying of distribution system and provision of storage tanks, using rainwater, distribution of water purification systems, etc. Despite the difficulties, clean water is being provided for several people. In remote mountain areas hill torrent is used through metal pipes that descend in the form of a stream in the mountains. The authors suggest in this paper, micro rooftop rainwater harvesting projects in the affected areas based on the lessons derived from recovery role of similar projects in Banda Aceh in Indonesia.