BALAKOT, Oct 7: While normalcy has yet to return to the city that buried thousands of its residents killed by the Oct 2005 earthquake, survivors are getting on with their lives, rebuilding their shattered homes brick by brick.
The quake destroyed more than 95 per cent of the buildings in Balakot. The government decision to shift the earthquake victims to a neighbouring city called Bakryal has not been hugely popular with the locals who are determined not to leave the city where they were born and which contains the graves of their ancestors. But others feel they have no choice but to relocate to what has been billed as “New Balakot”.
“I think at least 80 per cent of the people here have reconciled themselves to the idea that they will have to move to New Balakot,” says former school teacher Omar Zeb Khan.
But 50-year-old Hameeda Bibi, who lost her husband, three sons, two daughters-in-law and six grandchildren, says she takes government promises with a pinch of salt.
“The government is always quick to take a decision and slow to implement it. I fear that this government decision will meet the same fate,” she says, adding that she received no government assistance following the earthquake.
While the ground-breaking ceremony of New Balakot, previously scheduled to be held on Oct 8, has been postponed, the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority has acquired 4,000 acres to accommodate 8,000 families from Balakot and adjoining areas vulnerable to deadly landslides.
Earthquake victims in Balakot feel certain that they will not be able to get hold of residential units — at least not as large as the ones they had before the quake — in New Balakot without pulling a few political strings. Some have moved to Abbottabad and Mansehra to send their children to educational institutions.
Some residents feel that government claims about Balakot being located on a fault line are not entirely true.
Lawyer Khalid Pervez argues that if the government reckons that Balakot is such a dangerous place, why has it allowed the victims to erect tents and live there for about a year.
“We are supposed to live here till the new city is ready. So, this place is not dangerous while we are living here and will become dangerous only when the new city is ready. The mind boggles,” he says.
Another resident quotes the Erra chairman as saying that a tourist spot will be established in place of Balakot.
“If Balakot is located on a fault line, do you think it’s a good idea to set up a tourist spot here. Clearly there is something fishy,” he says. Other residents are more perturbed about immediate problems.
“There is a limit to how long you can live in tents, doing without all the basic necessities of life like drinking water, food and education,” says a resident.
“And last year we survived the winter with great difficulty. And recently Oxfam sent a shiver down our spine when it announced that winter this year would be harsher,” he said.
While it may be necessary to relocate the quake victims from Balakot to Bakryal, the government should not only take care of the immediate needs of the victims but should also allay their misgivings about the new city.
