BALAKOT (Hazara Division): Displaying boyish curiosity, nine-year-old Khizar asks visitors to the tomb of 19th century leader Ahmad Shah Barelvi Shaheed where they are from. Relieved to find the green-tiled monument by the Kunhar River largely unscathed by the Oct 8 earthquake that otherwise wrought great destruction in Balakot, the visitors, in turn, ask him why is he playing among graves.
“Oh, here is my mother,” says the boy, pointing to a recently made grave. “And my sister, my paternal uncle, aunt, and a first cousin are also buried here,” he continues in a sad voice. “And your father?” The boy says: “He died in Mansehra from injuries a couple of days after the earthquake. I now live with my relatives in Balakot and come here for company.”
The earthquake flattened Balakot and neighbouring hamlets. Mohammad Javed, who works in a Karachi household, was in Sarwahi, a village located between Balakot and Garhi Habibullah, when the tremors pummelled the area.
“At least 90 people lost their lives in landslides triggered by the earthquake. For two days we remained without relief and shelter as rains lashed the area. The first tranche of Rs25,000 given by the authorities was spent on buying of household goods and other essentials.
“And since men cannot leave their wives and children behind in improvised tents, they are mostly out of work and likely to spend the next tranche of Rs75,000 without even laying the foundation-stone of their houses. In any case, with labour and transportation costs going up in a big way, construction of houses is no longer possible with what now looks like a measly sum of Rs75,000,” he explains.
Mohammad Yasin lost his family of six – three children, wife and parents. He argues that instead of giving money directly to the victims, the government should put in place a mechanism whereby building materials are made available to regional authorities tasked with systematically reconstructing the houses destroyed by the earthquake.
“And I don’t think a large number of people would move to Bakaryal where the government intends to establish a new city. First, economic pressures, like jobs in neighbouring cities, may prevent people from leaving Balakot in large numbers. Second, call it naiveté but a lot of people attach great importance to their birthplace and may not want to leave it for another city.”
Reconstruction and securing government funds are also the two big problems faced by the people of Daddar, a charming village in a valley with views up to the Bhogarmang Mountain, near the Siran River.
Known mostly for the breathtakingly majestic cheer pine forest and a 19th century tuberculosis sanatorium, the area bore the brunt of the earthquake but received relief and succour much later than other calamity-hit areas.
“The crew of a private TV channel were the first to get here. Relief teams came much later,” recalls Mohammad Shaukat, a resident of Jabori near Daddar.
“The area saw widespread destruction and damage. For the most part, people of this area eke out a living by working their land.
‘‘Their survival is now in jeopardy because the earthquake closed off the irrigation channels that previously watered their lands.”
Shaukat speaks of another problem which is by no means peculiar to the area. “A local journalist, working in cahoots with the patwari, is charging Rs5,000 for the immediate procurement of Rs25,000 being distributed by the authorities among the victims.
‘‘Those who do not avail themselves of his ‘services’ are not entertained by the patwari who is quite good at using delaying tactics. Most people parted with Rs5,000 to get the first tranche. I fear that they will have to fork out a greater sum when the second tranche of Rs75,000 comes through,” he says.
