Quake survivors face long winter in tent villages

Watched by a small crowd of children, soldiers in uniform pin up buntings and wreaths of flowers on a canvas shelter among a sea of tents – all that is left of the village of Maiddan, 160 km north of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Their slight sense of uncertainty as they arrange the decorations suggests this is not a task they have undertaken frequently. Even as the tent is given a festive look, and the relatives of Muhammad Hussain and Rukhtaj Bibi gather for the second wedding to take place in the tented village since the quake, yards away the grief-stricken parents of Nawaz, four, and Sumaira, three months, prepare to bury their children. A tent fire late on Saturday night had claimed their lives, despite efforts by the 200 or so occupants of the village and soldiers to put out the blaze. The deep sense of mourning hanging like a dark cloud over the area means the wedding is a low-key affair. It could not be postponed as relatives of the young couple had travelled for days to attend the occasion. The teenage bride is taken away in a 'doli' – an enclosed box-like structure - carried by men from her new husband's family, as is the tradition. Women and children sing the songs heard at such events. Almost at the same time, the tiny bodies of the two children are carried on string beds to their graves. The scene from this tented village – one of hundreds across the earthquake zone - reflects life in post-quake northern Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. Routine events must after all continue. But at the same time, in the precarious situation survivors find themselves in, many new dangers lurk. The fire at the camp is the third serious incident reported at tented villages in recent days. At least four other children, all of them at tent villages in the Balakot area, have been injured in similar blazes that have broken out, mainly as a result of cooking stoves or candles being tipped over inside tents. The Pakistani army, which along with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), helped pay for and organise the low-key wedding of Muhhammad Hussain and Rukhtaj Bibi, has stated repeatedly that a major fire hazard exists at nearly all camps. Lt-Col Manzoor, at the Maiddan site, explained: "We have tried to take precautions, but it is not easy. People often use candles inside tents, rather than protected lanterns, and bedding is highly inflammable." He pointed out that only due to swift firefighting efforts had the blaze been prevented from spreading. Firefighting equipment is in short supply across the country, and there is little awareness about the risks. The situation is worse in areas such as Battagram, where the bitter cold, with temperatures now dropping well below the zero after sunset, deterring people from following advice given by camp organisers to cook all meals outdoors. Muhammad Hussain, 20, who is unemployed but helps with the family lands in Allai, and his bride, Rukhtaj Bibi, will begin their married life in a tent. Like thousands others across affected areas living in similar situations, the cold, disease and the lack of adequate sanitation facilities at most camps pose an immense threat to them. Six weeks after the quake of 8 October that killed at least 80,000, there has been marked improvement in the organisation of aid delivery, the management of camps and the reconstruction effort. Yet, despite this, at most tent villages, to which the freezing winter conditions bring more and more quake survivors every day, life is still tenuous. Disease, especially diarrhoea, is rampant with the lack of toilets and adequate sanitation making the situation worse. Cases of pneumonia continue to be reported, even though efforts have been speeded up to provide winterised tents, or at least waterproof covering, over the flimsy structures housing survivors across the Battagram district. "We live close to death all the time, even when there is no quake, because we are poor. Often we have no access to doctors when we are sick, or our children develop high fevers," Jamila Begum, 30, from the Allai area told IRIN. But she added: "The deaths in the blaze of the two innocent children have really disturbed us. It shows God's wrath on us has not yet ended." But, amid the mourning, there is also a recognition that somehow, life must go on, the wedding celebration being a recent example. "Even an earthquake cannot stop the cycle of marriage and birth that goes on. Many newborns have also come into this world since the quake," said Muneer Ahmed, one of the doctors working in the Battagram area. Many based at camps have begun searching for work, to bring in the income their families need to survive, Others are pondering the question of how to go about the task of rebuilding destroyed homes once the winter snows have finally melted away.