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| October 12, 2005 | Wednesday | Ramzan 7, 1426 |
People queue up to leave Muzaffarabad
MUZAFFARABAD/MAN SEHRA, Oct 11: Collapsed houses, broken roads, smashed vehicles and people running after trucks carrying relief goods, which have started reaching the AJK capital, are the most common scenes in the city.
Before the killer earthquake hit the valley, Muzaffarabad was a beautiful city. Now it presents a ghastly look with bodies lying on roadsides, funeral processions one after the other and people queuing up to leave the city.
“Yes, people have started leaving the city for the time being, because every second home has either collapsed or is nearing collapse, there is no electricity; there is stink in the air with decomposing corpses yet to be retrieved,” said a local man.
Relief efforts have started picking up with volunteers arriving and military units moving on the roads leading to the affected areas. “However, as of today, we do not have anything to hope for a better tomorrow,” he said with tears in his eyes.
A young army captain of the medical corps told this reporter that villages after villages around Muzzafarabad had been destroyed.
Early in the morning when this reporter started moving towards Abbotabad, every second vehicle on the road was loaded with relief goods - blankets, tents, various kinds of foodstuff and cartons of mineral water - and volunteers sitting inside and on the roof.
Moving towards Mansehra on the main road, one noticed the infrastructure affected by the quake. A short visit to the district hospital in Mansehra tells the real story. It has lost its new building and is now functioning from tents; patients of all ages, of both sexes, with compound fractures and other injuries are all around.
“Yes, we have all kinds of medicines with us, but one thing which is needed most is mobile operation theatres. At present we have only two such facilities and considering the magnitude of the problem it is just nothing,” said young Dr Rajesh who has come from the Jinnah Hospital Karachi.
Every second patient is suffering from gangerine, and doctors have little option but amputation, he said.
“One thing which bothers me most is the post-operation care. With the financial condition of these patients, I can hardly see such patients surviving afterwards,” he added.
There were around 150 tents with patients living in unhygienic conditions. It was almost impossible to stand amid wailing parents who had lost their children, patients crying with pain above all, open decomposing wounds.
The road through Garhi Habibullah to Muzzafarabad had a few collapsed houses on its two sides, but the overall situation appeared to be under control. But on approaching Muzzafarabad, one is stunned by the large-scale destruction. Though the main road leading to the city has been cleared, it still carries signs of the most powerful tremor this part of the world has ever witnessed.
Everywhere, people are trying to retrieve bodies of their loved ones. The most tragic incident perhaps took place on the CMH Road, at the Pre-Cadet Rizwan Public School. It had a strength of 650 students. It was the third period in the morning when the tragedy struck, and the three-storey building collapsed in a few seconds, an eye-witness said.
“With local people’s help we saved more than 350 students, but around 300 others were trapped inside; most of them have died, and it will be a miracle if someone is found alive,” he said.
A pale-looking and speechless Sabir Naqvi, who lost his two sons in the school, told this reporter that he was yet to get the body of his second son.
“If tomorrow the entire world comes to our help with whatever machinery, it will be of no use to me and my family, it’s all over now,” said Mr Naqvi.
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