Torghar areas ignored in post-quake relief activities

Published November 29, 2015
A man stands near his destroyed house in Sura Asharay village in Torghar. — Dawn
A man stands near his destroyed house in Sura Asharay village in Torghar. — Dawn

“I am worried about the coming harsh winter when heavy snowfall occurs creating severe chill as my family is still living in a tent,” said Gul Zamin, a resident of remote and backward Sura Asharay village in Torghar whose house was destroyed in the Oct 26 earthquake this year.

Six people were killed in this small village when the powerful earthquake hit parts of the country.

Mr Zamin’s family is not alone going through such an ordeal in his village, but 150 other families are also living in similar conditions and seeking compensation to rebuild their houses before the arrival of harsh winter which usually begins in late December or early January every year. He told Dawn that most of the affected families were still living in danger in cracked mud houses as the authorities didn’t consider them eligible for relief and damage compensation.


“We are still without any medical facilities as no medical camp has been established so far in our village. One can only reach here on foot after covering a difficult, unfrequented route of eight kilometres,” says Mohammad Imran, a resident of Nusratkhel Kando village, which was badly hit by the earthquake.


The tragedy claimed lives of as many as 16 people, most of them children, and left hundreds of houses completely or partially damaged in the district.

“If people eligible for compensation are not provided relief they might go for holding demonstrations to raise voice against this injustice and this has started happening in our district,” he said.

Though the district administration has established a tent village in Sura Asharay, only those families whose houses were destroyed are being accommodated there. Other affected people whose houses developed serious cracks or were partially damaged in the earthquake are still living in such houses putting their lives in a danger owing to unavailability of tents and resources.

“Our village has over 150 mud houses and the residents whose houses were destroyed are provided with 24 tents, but all other families are still living in partially damaged houses,” said Moin Khan who house developed serious cracks as a result of the earthquake.

He said that almost all houses in their village were destroyed extensively or partially, but compensation cheques were given only to 38 families, five for complete destruction and 33 for partial damage.

“Our village is still being jolted by aftershocks and severe winter is round the corner, but names of 110 families whose houses are damaged partially or are not fit for use have not been included in the compensation list,” said Mr Moin. He said that the government should provide all residents of the village with prefabricated houses and pay them compensation money as early as possible so they could reconstruct their houses to protect themselves from the harsh winter.

Torghar, which remained a tribal belt of Mansehra district before getting the status of a settled district in 2012, is still under the influence of jirga system and elders of four main tribes of Nusratkhel, Bassikhel, Hassanzai and Akazai are unanimous that a much higher number of houses were destroyed in the tragedy compared to the figures issued by the government. They claimed that over 90 per cent population in the district were living in mud houses.

“We are still without any medical facilities as no medical camp is established in our village. One can only reach here on foot after covering a difficult, unfrequented route of eight kilometres,” said Mohammad Imran, a resident of Nusratkhel Kando village, which was badly hit by the earthquake.

He said that the people of his village were still facing a danger as the mud houses they were living in had developed big cracks and the district administration had not provided tents and relief items to all the villagers.

“The people of my village are also part of protests being held regularly at Judbah and other parts of the district seeking compensation of houses. The government should pay them compensation before the start of harsh winter so that they could reconstruct houses,” he said.

According to official sources, Torghar still lacks road and other infrastructure needed even to run a small town.

Mohammad Zahid, who lost election for the district councillor seat on PTI ticket from Judbah, the district headquarters of Torghar, said that the independent councillor who joined his party and was made district nazim had also failed to deliver.

“When a district nazim of a ruling party can’t raise voice for the rights of people, no one else would come to our rescue at such a critical time,” he said. He said that owing to poverty 90 per cent of houses were made of mud and stones in the district and most of them were either destroyed or they developed dangerous cracks in the earthquake. He said that people continue to live in such houses, but the district administration was not including them in the damage compensation list.

“The district nazim should step down from his position or ensure inclusion of such people in the list for compensation,” said Mr Zahid.

He said that aftershocks were still being felt in the district and it could cause a big tragedy if houses that developed serious cracks were not reconstructed.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazal, which is the main coalition partner in the PTI-led district government, also seems annoyed with the provincial government over non-inclusion of Torghar in the list of districts needing emergency relief.

“The provincial government has included Swat, Shangla, Dir and Chitral in the emergency relief districts in the province, but ignored Torghar which is an injustice with the people of this hard-hit district,” said Safiullah Khattak, the information secretary of JUI-F Torghar.

JUI-F lawmaker from Torghar, Zarin Gul, has also demanded a fresh survey of the damaged houses in the district. Speaking in the provincial assembly, he had demanded that camp offices of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority should be established in the affected districts to speed up post-earthquake activities.

According to deputy commissioner, Torghar, Matloobur Rehman the housing compensation had been paid to 563 affected families, while survey of another 663 houses was also completed. He claimed that Rs80 million had so far been paid to the affected families in the district. “I have no objection to a fresh survey if PDMA gives us a go-ahead,” said Mr Rehman.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2015

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