Nearly six months after a 7.6 earthquake devastated northwest Pakistan, international relief and development organisation World Vision has shifted its focus from relief to helping communities rebuild livelihoods, restart education and restore hope for their children.

Programmes to restart livelihoods in on-farm and off-farm activities have been drafted with input from communities where World Vision plans to work. The organisation is working to establish 40 temporary schools, with the view to reconstruct 50 permanent schools in the Siran valley. 

Child Friendly Spaces, or safe havens for children, are currently being relocated to support families who are returning home from relief camps and more spaces are being established to encourage school attendance and the full integration of children in communities.

World Vision is also exploring ways of supporting the World Food Programme's two-year recovery operation in the area of Food-for-work and school feeding, targeting the most vulnerable families. 

Families now leaving relief camps for their places of origin or new locations face the daunting task of starting again. Many of those who remained with their homes after the quake must also rebuild from zero. 

'These families are more vulnerable now than ever. Women and child-headed households, people with disabilities and the sick and elderly also need special attention and targeted support. We will address these groups in all of our recovery and reconstruction interventions', said World Vision Pakistan Relief Director, Chance Briggs.

Sigurd Hanson, World Vision Pakistan Country Director said, 'While we look ahead to supporting families and their children as they rebuild, we also recognise that survivors are still suffering. Their pain is still as real today as it was on the morning of Saturday 8 October. Looking back is also part of the healing process'.

Children were disproportionately impacted in the earthquake that struck when many were in school. More than 19,000 were killed and 2.2 million affected. Some 3.5 million families were rendered homeless.

World Vision responded quickly in the hard-hit Mansehra district of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), distributing burial shrouds, quilts, tarpaulins and water, followed by medicines, hygiene kits and other basic household supplies.

In view of the imminent winter, World Vision's relief team engaged porters to transport hardy tents and blankets to villages in the upper reaches of the Siran valley. Later, shelter materials including Corrugated Iron Sheeting and toolkits were widely distributed to afford families better protection against the elements.

Relief supplies, including warm clothes for children, tarpaulins and shelter materials benefited nearly 143,000 people or more than 31,000 households since the quake, exceeding the initial target by more than 15,000 households.

After consultation with community leaders and families, World Vision established 15 Child Friendly Spaces in relief camps in Balakot and Mansehra involving some 1,500 children during their operation. 

The colourful, bright tents and welcoming staff gave children an opportunity to play and receive an informal education in a structured environment, while their parents or family members coped with the daily rigors of camp life. 

Community members were recruited to work with the children and encourage them to return to their studies, recognising that many of them feared entering a classroom where so many of their friends had perished.

In partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), World Vision began distribution of food supplies in the Siran valley, benefiting more than 77,000 people, many of them children. Almost all of these families also received World Vision relief supplies.

World Vision also aims to meet the longer-term needs of children, their families and communities primarily in select locations of NWFP. It will focus on humanitarian emergency assistance, disaster preparedness and mitigation, assisting 'children in crisis', including 'street children', 'runaway children', and those at risk of trafficking, as well as supporting select communities in Afghan Refugee Impacted Areas in NWFP.