Resilience In The Face Of Natural Disasters

Ibkar Nadeem, a 28-year-old resides in Shabqaddar, Charsadda district, with his family. He belongs to a neglected segment of society that is associated with sanitary work to earn bread for the family. He managed a restroom facility at bus stop and earned PKR 600 per day which was barely enough to cover his family’s living. Recent monsoon rains have affected the livelihood of daily wagers abominably. He shared that he got a space for the restrooms on a contract, but due to heavy rains and flooding, the whole bus stand was flooded and his restrooms were also damaged drastically. For almost a month, he could not earn a penny and asked help from relatives and took out a loan to manage the family needs. When after a month, the situation got normal and economic activities resumed, he was looking for some help to repair the restroom facility. A church referred him to OATH for help; after an assessment, OATH provided him with PKR 20,000/- cash grant. Right after receiving the grant, he renovated and improved the restroom facility and resumed his earning. Ibkar now earns more than 1500 PKR per day, which is three times of what he was earning prior to the floods.