Canadian Deborah Clifton worked on Oxfam projects funded by CIDA to provide aid to victims of the October 8, 2005, earthquake in Pakistan.

“There have been many natural disasters in the world, but this earthquake raised some really unusual challenges: it was the first major disaster where we had to deal with winter,” says Canadian Deborah Clifton. The general manager of Oxfam programs responding to the quake in Pakistan, Ms. Clifton gained a good grasp of the complexity of the tragedy. “A large part of the population affected lived in areas where access was extremely difficult, and we had to take complex local customs into consideration.”

In the six months that followed the October 8, 2005, earthquake, Oxfam succeeded in providing assistance to hundreds of thousands of people hard hit by the disaster. The non-governmental organization focused on areas located at very high altitude. To reach communities in the mountainous regions, for example, one must walk for several hours. The few roads that existed were destroyed by the quake.

“In order to reach people quickly, we created a partnership with small Pakistani organizations already known to the local population. The partnership worked really well,” says Ms. Clifton in Islamabad.

In seven months, Oxfam distributed more than 24,000 winterized tents in the two regions affected: North-West Frontier Province and Pakistani Kashmir. Of that number, 1,250 tents and temporary shelters that could accommodate 1,200 families were funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) at a cost of $500,000.

Oxfam had to meet another major challenge when the time came to talk about sanitation projects. Oxfam relies heavily on public consultation in its projects. However, because of purdah, a custom that requires women to be concealed from men who are not close family members, it was far from easy to gather opinions from women. Oxfam realized that, in the most conservative regions, women could not be reached without female workers on site. “To converse with women, we had to go to them directly,'' says Ms. Clifton. ''So our teams went door to door!”

In the Shamlai valley, hundreds of latrines were built. “The location of each latrine was a major issue because we wanted various families to be able to share them,'' says Ms. Clifton. ''And the women had to be able to access the facilities without any problem.”

In nine months, Oxfam built nearly 9,600 latrines in all, repaired or rebuilt 273 water supply systems (used by approximately 394,000 people), and distributed some 46,000 hygiene kits. During the same period, people in Pakistani Kashmir were given more than 1,900 training sessions on hygiene offered by Oxfam, which also made more than 5,000 visits to communities to promote the new hygiene habits.

At Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, Oxfam has contributed to making water supply and sanitation services systems more accessible to people by providing water tanks and latrines.

CIDA granted more than $993,000 to Oxfam to improve water supply and sanitation services in 4 hospitals and 18 camps for internally displaced persons. Some 200,000 people came to benefit from running water, sanitation facilities, hygiene items, and information on public health.

Oxfam's goal since May 2006 has been to eliminate water- and hygiene-related illnesses. Oxfam has also made a commitment to repair 140 additional water supply systems, each of which can serve up to 200 households.

“In recent months, I noticed changes in people's attitudes—particularly in women: I see in their eyes greater confidence in the future and a great deal of curiosity,'' says Ms. Clifton. ''For all these projects, we rely heavily on donations. And up to now, Canada has reacted very quickly.”