Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad, assistant professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Punjab University and Professor Zulfiqar Ahmad of Quaid-i-Azam University, co-authored a presentation on the geological aspects of earthquakes and seismic risk analysis. He explained that the earth is composed of tectonic plates, that, when grinding against each other, cause earthquakes. The plates involved in the 8 October earthquake were the Eurasian and Indian plates. Dr. Ahmad identified Karachi as a potential danger zone because the Eurasian, Indian and Arabian plates converge at the port city. However, such research was said to be preliminary, and required more in-depth study. He maintained that ‘quiet regions' were the most dangerous, because no energy had been released in these regions for at least 50 years. He said seismic stations must be set up in such areas. Dr. Ahmad cited the example of a massive earthquake in Haicheng, China, in 1975 where a five and a half hour warning was issued, allowing authorities the luxury of safe evacuation and electrical plant shutdowns. Similarly, an earthquake in Hokkaido , Jap an, measured at 8.1 on the Richter scale in 2003 claimed relatively few lives because authorities were able to gave citizens sufficient warning. The paper also highlighted that human activity such as the injection of water into deep wells; the exploitation of oil and gas fields, and underground nuclear tests could aggravate tectonic activity.
Dr. Huma Haque, a cultural anthropologist teaching at Quaid-i-Azam University, spoke on media presentations of the October 8 th earthquake in her presentation Female Body, Media, and the Earthquake: A Case of Politics of Presentation. She was of the view that the construction of the female body in the newspaper coverage of the October 8 th earthquake had reinforced the gendered identity of women, as it exists in society today. She explained that the lines between the female body, a metaphorical space, and the earthquake-hit areas, territorial spaces, were blurred. The metaphor of the feminine was extended to the affected geographic regions and this merger was used to advance the interests of the patriarchal state. Dr. Haque explained that women remain subordinate to male principles continue to be both producers and reproducers of the material conditions of existence. She said that women produced exchange value in their capacities as paid labourers, and produced use value as unpaid domestic workers. Women are reproducers as mothers producing the next generation of workers, and as women and housekeepers who reproduce ideas and values that maintain the class structure through child rearing and socialisation. She added that male power holders regulated the female body to serve their economic and political interests. Dr. Haque felt that the media had portrayed Pakistani women as having no identity of their own and as helpless creatures in the absence of men, taking wrong decisions regarding their sexuality. She felt that the press had not covered the episodes where the women of Besham and Gari Habib-ullah had showed great courage in the earthquake-hit areas.
Manzoor Ahmed from the SUNGI Development Foundation, in his presentation NGO Perspective on the 8 October Earthquake, introduced a model selected from the Department for International Development's (DFID) Sustainable Livelihoods framework. The model consists of the types of capital people possess. They include natural, human social, political, and produced capital. He said a lack of control over this capital leaves people and their assets highly vulnerable to natural disasters, disease, inflation, poor governance, and population growth. Moving on to the issue of disaster management, Dr. Ahmed felt that community-based disaster management policies, administrative decision-making, and operational activities were required to decrease the disastrous effects of the earthquake. He stressed the importance of preparedness, early warning systems, rescue, relief and rehabilitation. He felt that humanitarian aid is a basic human right, and that Pakistani civil society needed strengthening.
Dr. Muhammad Irfan Khan of the AIOU in his presentation Environmental Aspects of Natural Disasters in Relation to Human Activities lectured on the cross-connections between human activities and environmental aspects of natural disasters. The floods resulting from extensive deforestation is an example of man's tendency to exacerbate natural disasters through environmental mismanagement.
Dr. Khan elaborated on linkages between global warming and increased tectonic activity. Global warming causes a marked increase in glacial melt. As glaciers retreat and lighten the load on tectonic plates, this frees the plates, allowing them to move against each other. This is particularly relevant for Pakistan, as there are active fault lines in northern Pakistan where the world's largest non-polar glaciers exist. It is also a known fact that these glaciers are melting faster than ever before.
The risk of landslides remained after the October 8 th earthquake, causing river blockages, and introducing a fresh danger of possible flash floods. Landslides have also increased the sedimentation in the Kunhar, Jehlum and Neelum rivers causing a visible increase in turbidity, which may in turn effect fisheries. Increased sedimentation also poses a potential threat to downstream reservoirs such as Mangla, thereby affecting electricity production.
In his concluding remarks, Dr. Khan recommended the development of guidelines for relief agencies minimize the impact of relief activities on forest and water resources. He stressed the importance of environmental assessment, management, and recovery plans.
During the question and answers session, it was pointed out that the condition of women in large government run relief camps was appalling and that they were not being provided with their basic needs, nor were they being treated as adult citizens. The discussant, Harris Khalique commented that the social structure of Pakistan was an oppressive one and the disaster had severe consequences in Pakistan's context because of severe disorganisation and mismanagement, rampant illiteracy, and a lack of good governance. He said that policy makers needed to realise the fact that a well-governed state that treats its citizens equally was required to cope with such disasters.
Reported by Ali Shahrukh Pracha
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