MUZAFFARABAD: Five members of a family, who were killed by an avalanche on Wednesday in Surgan area of Neelum valley, were laid to rest in their hamlet on Thursday amid moving scenes.

Nasreen Bibi, 35, wife of Gul Zaman, and her four children - Adnan, 15, Ehtisham, 12, Haleema, 10, and Shah Zain, 2, - were buried under huge mass of snow after their house was struck by an avalanche at 7:30pm on Wednesday.

Gul Zaman, the family’s breadwinner, was in Rawalpindi while one of his daughters survived because she was at a neighbour’s place when the house was hit by the snow slide.

By 2:30am, villagers had recovered all five bodies, using pickaxes and an emergency light.

At the funeral prayers and subsequent burials, the condition of an extremely traumatised Gul Zaman bedewed many eyes.

“We, the policemen, are generally perceived as unfeeling, hardly driven by emotions... But the scenes of five coffins, four of those of small kids, and their virtually numb father brought tears even in our eyes,” said SHO Sharda Mumtaz Hussain, who remained in the village since morning to afternoon to monitor arrangements.

“We left the place with a heavy heart,” he added.

The high altitude areas of Neelum Valley are struck by avalanches almost every winter.

At least 76 people were killed last January in avalanches in the same Surgan area.

Environmental activists say deforestation in the Valley has exacerbated the avalanches in recent years.

“These trees act as nails, which not only keep the mountain slopes intact by saving them from fragility, but also stop or slow down the movement of snow masses,” Raja Ameer Khan, a local campaigner told Dawn.

“People do not keep this benefit of trees in mind, and consequently suffer death and destruction at the hands of avalanches.”

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2021