Berlin/Islamabad. The politically explosive Pakistani province of Kashmir became the focus of world attention for a few days in 2005. In a short space of time, an earthquake raised whole swathes of land to the ground. In addition to the reconstruction aid, delivered in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophe, long-term projects are now essential in order to restore the infrastructure. One of the focuses of the reconstruction work is the health provision infrastructure.

On 8 October 2005 an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale was recorded and the pictures of the homeless people in Pakistan shook the world. Most strongly affected were those in the north of the country – the Kashmir region. According to a report from the Deutsche Welthungerhilfe [German Agro Action], more than 80,000 people died, and over 3.5 million people were made homeless. As a result of the earthquake, in the three districts most affected by the earthquake - Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Bagh and Poonch, up to three quarters of the health service facilities were destroyed. In addition to the rapid reconstruction work, measures for the long-term improvement of the situation are being implemented. Public funds will be used to reconstruct the “Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences,” making it into the future central reference hospital for AJK, and the District Headquarter Hospital in Bagh and the Tehsil Headquarter Hospital in Kahutta (District Bagh) will also be rebuilt. As experts in the area of waste-management, ETLog Health has been commissioned by AGEG Consultants eG to undertake work in the Kashmir area.

Specifically, ETLog Health is to analyse the legal and organizational conditions for waste disposal. Based upon this, the Berlin firm will develop an evaluation of the generation of waste from the facilities of the health service, as well as developing a disposal concept for waste and sewage.
ETLog Health places particular value on construction and implementation of practicable disposal systems,, adjusted to the general conditions in Pakistan. ETLog Health will participate in this reconstruction project for an anticipated two years starting in January 2007.

The German federal government has made available a partial payment of 19.8 million EUR for the reconstruction measures in the earthquake-hit region.

Contact PR:
Andrea Schuster | schuster@etlog-health.de | www.etlog-health.de
Tel.: ++ 49 (0) 30 | 44 31 87 - 40 | Fax: - 49
ETLog Health EnviroTech & Logistics GmbH | Linienstr. 72 | 10119 Berlin