Wednesday, October 8, 2008, Shawwal 8, 1429    

Earthquake 2005, unending miseries

M Ayub Minhas

October the 8th is the third anniversary of the massive earthquake that struck many parts of Azad Kashmir and North West Frontier Province in 2005 that caused widespread deaths, destruction and displacement. Over seventy thousand people, mostly children, were killed. The facts and stories of miseries are well known to the nation and world which participated in a big way to save injured and contributed in relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction effort.Information and updates on reconstruction effort continued for over a year. But political turmoil after the sacking of judiciary lawyer’s movement, terrorist acts and murder of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, general elections and formation of government has diverted the attention of electronic and print media from the earthquake zone and the problems faced by the effected people. That is why, in the last two years there has been no reporting from the devastated areas of Azad Kashmir and NWFP, except an occasional feel good story based on the press releases.

The real story of the victims is different. It is true that the whole nation and many countries of the world helped us in the initial stages of relief and recovery and pledged billions of dollars for the reconstructions. But all that has not brought any real change in our lives and the dream of “Build Back Better” still remains to be realized. Millions of houses were destroyed and government through Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority ( ERRA) paid from seventy five to one hundred seventy five thousand Rupees per house as compensation. This amount was not even enough to pay the transportation charges of construction material to the mountainous areas. Constructions hubs were also promised to provide material for the reconstructions but that was not fulfilled . The situation is that the people are living in those shelters which had been built in the first year with the help of army who provided some eight to twelve steel sheets to each households. While flying in choppers in looking down in those vallies, one can see white roof tops everywhere and assumes that houses have been reconstructed. But the truth is that those are just roof tops and there is nothing like a house in there.

The roads which were destroyed in Oct 2005 were opened by removing debris and landslides and reconstruction is not in sight. Roads form Muzafarabad to Neelam Valley , Muzaffarabad to Chakkothi and Muzafarabad to Bheri are in worst condition. Same is the case in NWFP areas where earthquake had struck. Let alone the miseries of the people, these are all strategic roads from security point of view but no attention is being paid. It is a nightmare to travel on these roads. Prior to the earthquake, I used to travel to my village Ghatian in tehsil Muffarabad in my own car and reach there in four and half hours covering one hundred and seventy Kilometers distance. Now, it takes three hours to reach Bheri from Muaffarabad - a distance of just 38 km.. Sometimes it takes almost the whole day because road gets blocked when it rains. Of all the roads, Muzaffarabad , Kahuri- Bheri and Neelam Valley road in worst condition. Every now and then, there are accidents on these roads and many innocent and hapless people die.

Thousands of schools, colleges and other educational institutions which were destroyed in the tremor are still in bad shape. Educational activities started in tents and shelter schools after the quake and those schools. After three years hardly any proper school has been rebuilt. The old campus of AJK University in Muzaffarabad was rebuilt by our Turkish brothers where there seems to be some semblance of reconstruction. Right across the road, the Government Girls Degree College is being run in tents and in a shed reconstructed by the Turks. The institutions are in the Capital, Muzaffarabad. One can imagine what could be the situation in remote and inaccessible areas.

Health facilities are almost non-existent in those rural areas. Doctors and the medicines were not available even prior to the earthquake as it is a common practice that no doctor is willing to serve in far flung areas. However, after the devastation in 2005 no effort has been made to provide even the basic health care to the people in the affected areas. The people in my area and in many other parts are suffering because of the apathy of the Government agencies. My heart bleeds when see people carrying their sick near and dear ones on their shoulders in cots. They bring the patients to a point from where they put them in a four-wheel drive vehicle and pay exorbitant fares to bring them to Muzaffarabad for treatment. Sometimes, serious patients and dead bodies remain dumped on the pavements in the cots as people cannot find any vehicle well in time and above all afford to pay the fare.

There is no clean drinking water available as the little water course (Koohls) were all destroyed and water springs dried up. In many areas, animals and the people drink from the same dirty pond and suffer serious water-borne diseases.

Unemployment is also widespread in the quake-hit areas. Most of the people from these areas go to the cities in Pakistan to earn their livelihood and they all returned to their villages following the earthquake. Since then, they are busy in rebuilding their abodes to provide shelter to their families. During the first year, most of them spent the compensation amount paid to them for the deaths and house building purposes. Now they have left to feed their families and most of them are indebted to the local shop keepers and owe them thousands of rupees. How they will be able to pay back the loan is a big question which these people can’t answer and their destiny is obscure. On the third anniversary of the deadly earthquake, these are the circumstances in the affected areas. Reconstruction and rehabilitation is a dream which may never come true. The two main cities – Muzaffarabad and Balakot – are still in ruins, what to speak about the conditions in remote areas. People are facing such difficult days with fortitude and resilience in ruins . They are hoping against hope for a better future but their miseries are unending.