BAGH, Oct 11: The only aid anyone from Bagh has seen from the government since the earthquake struck has been on television. Three days after the disaster the people of this once-prosperous little town set deep in the hills of Azad Kashmir have all but given up hope.

“The government is only showing us the relief on television,” said Abdul Razzaq, a storekeeper in the town, 70km southwest of Islamabad, and just 20km away from Uri, an Indian town across the ceasefire line that divides Kashmir.

“We haven’t seen a drop of water or medicine coming to us, not even a single grain.”

People lined up at a small army camp for blankets and mattresses, but Samaritans bringing in supplies independently had their truck ransacked before it could cross a small bridge to enter the town.

“The army should be sent in to restore some semblance of control,” said one resident, Sharafat, as rain poured down on the dismal scene at a spot where in better times people came to shop and picnic.

“We have been totally neglected by everyone. No one knows the state we are in.”

With hundreds of corpses of school children, shoppers and office workers lying beneath the rubble, the only proper rescue work being done is by a 60-strong team of Dutch rescue workers.

“So far this morning, we’ve sent sniffer dogs to three buildings and not been able to find a single living person,” a team leader of the orange-clad Dutch team told Reuters.

“It’s been 72 hours now since this disaster happened and that’s a long time for people to be buried under concrete and stone, but we will do our best.”

A Reuters correspondent who travelled overnight from Balakot which suffered similar devastation, said the stench of decomposing corpses was even worse in Bagh.

When the earthquake struck on Saturday morning Bagh’s bazaar was doing booming business, as is usual during the month of Ramazan which had begun two days earlier.

Its offices were full, and more than 750 students were packed into the town’s three schools and colleges.

The shops are gone now, along with the schools.

The electricity utility’s local head office had close to 350 staff and customers inside when the quake struck.

“The entire building collapsed and not a single body has been recovered from there,” said police chief Shafique Ahmed.

He doesn’t have a police station any more, and a dozen prisoners locked in the small jail were presumed dead.

The steep, narrow lanes that had been flanked by some 2,000 small shops were obliterated. Everything is covered by slabs of concrete, bricks and masonry.

Bagh served as the administrative headquarters for a district of 500,000 people.—Reuters