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BATGRAM, Oct 20: A generation was lost in the parts of NWFP hit by the October 8 earthquake which took an incredible toll in human life and physical infrastructure. A disaster like this may happen once in a century but a nation is better spared such an enormous test ever.
Decomposed corpses, razed houses, scattered graves, cracked roads, smashed vehicles, tearful eyes and begging hands was what this reporter saw during a three-day tour of Abbotabad, Batal, Balakot, Batgram, Ghari Habibullah and adjoin areas.
These areas were once picturesque places of Pakistan but the violent earthquake turned parts of them into graveyards and ruins.
What was most heartbreaking was to be told how thousands of schoolchildren were killed on their desks as roofs caved in on them. It is tragic not just for the parents, if they survived, but for the nation as a whole which lost a flowering generation.
Women became the second highest casualty because they were inside their houses, unlike the menfolk who had left for their jobs, when the quake struck.
Every survivor I came across had a different story to tell. But the loss of loved ones was a common theme. Ten days after the catastrophe, they were still digging their collapsed houses in the hope of recovering buried family members alive, or worst their bodies.
Up to 90 per cent of houses in the areas were razed to the ground by the quake, killing over 50 per cent of their inmates.
Most of those who escaped the tragedy, were now searching for food and shelter. Rain and hailstorms and the onset of winter was adding to their miseries.
Relief has reached so far to areas where roads have been reopened, while inaccessible mountain populations have yet to receive any rescue teams and relief goods.
ABBOTTABAD Oct 15: About 7,000 survivors from devastated areas had been shifted to Ayub Medical College Hospital (AMH), Between October 8 and 15. Most of them were children and women and had multiple fractures, a doctor told Dawn.
Dr Imran Taj said that at least 6,200 major and minor operation were carried out in the hospital during that week.
The 1,000-bed hospital was swarming with children with amputated limbs, stunned young women and anxious relatives.
Most of the injured and their families were critical of government’s response but praised the volunteers’ work.
Abdullah, 65, resident of village Kanoor said that the population of his village was 10,000, which the earthquake had reduced to 6,000. About 4,000 houses had collapsed and 500 persons were believed to be still buried under their debris.
Taufeeq Hussain, a class seven student of Government School Gabri Karish said that the roof of his school caved in while the class was on.
He was pulled out of the debris after four hours by his teacher. Later his father shifted him to AMH by carrying him 30 miles on foot.
BATAL, Oct 16: Markets of Batal were full and the streets even more crowded by survivors, who had streamed to the town to collect relief goods.
Naseer Ahmed, a madressah teacher, said that smoke rose from the mountains and building in the town shook like leaves in the wind when the earthquake struck the area.
About 1,500 people, most of them students, were killed and 90 per cent houses collapsed in the town. More than 600 boys and girls attending three government schools and a madressah were among the dead.
A resident of Chater Plan village located near Batal said that death stalked the village where people were still digging out bodies and injured.
Mohammad Jahanzeb, resident of Kobi village, said that relief goods and rescue workers had not reached the village yet.
The town has a total population of 3,000 living in 1,000 houses. About 500 people died. Many were still buried under the rubble.
In Shinkiari, a man angrily told this reporter that all 15 houses in his village, which lies just a few miles off the main highway, were knocked down by the quake, killing two persons. “No one came to our help so I have walked to Batal to seek relief.”
BALAKOT, October 17: Balakot as a city is gone. All that remains are survivors walking through the rubble. Relief workers were trying to help them.
The third floor of the Kooh-i-Toor restaurant that once provided a stunning view of the lovely valley and river now lies at the street level.
Abdullah Saboor, 38, a local businessman, and his neighbours sat on fine wooden furniture on top of the remains of his house. He had no idea what to do except keep a watch on the ruins where 10 members of his family and money and valuables lay buried under the rubble.
Residents of nearby villages told Dawn that at least 15 villages exist on the outskirts of Balakot with a total population of 50,000 people. About 60 per cent of them were killed and more than 90 per cent house had collapsed in the earthquke.
Village people come here, collect relief items and return to their destroyed homes. Some were thinking to move down as no tents were coming their way and it would be impossible to live through the winter in the open.
Bibi Rehmat Jan, a resident of Khengir village was migrating to Mansehra along with her three daughters, a grandson, a goat, a cow and chicken for a better living because her village had been reduced to rubble.
GARHI HABIBULLAH: The street of the town were crowded with survivors streaming from destroyed villages down in the valley and up in the mountains.
Islamic charities have pitched tents at various places in Garhi Habibullah for the uprooted people.
