Scars still linger after 2005 quake

Karamullah Khan, aged five, can remember nothing of the day three years ago that changed forever the life of his family. The boy was only two when the devastating earthquake of 8 October 2005 hit North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, bringing the roof of his house crashing down. At least 72,000 were killed.

Three members of Karamullah’s immediate family - his mother, his elder sister and grandmother - died in their village about 10km from Balakot (200 km north of Islamabad, population 30,000), which was virtually wiped out.

The child's father, Siraj Khan, was among the 70,000 people estimated by the World Bank to have been severely injured or disabled as a result of the disaster.

Khan, who suffered head and back injuries, now works as an office assistant in the southern port city of Karachi. He can no longer carry out strenuous physical work and has been unable to find employment closer to home.

"I was hit by the falling stones from the roof of my home when it caved in. My wife and daughter died immediately. Now, if I stand for too long or lift anything heavy, my lower back hurts unbearably. Previously, I could work for up to 10 hours without flinching. Fortunately I have been able to find a job in Karachi after searching for over a year," he said.

Karamullah now lives with distant relatives in Peshawar, in a cramped three-room house that accommodates nine. He cannot remember his mother or the peaceful mountain village in which he was born. He misses his father who is able to visit him only two or three times a year. "I have no choice but to leave my son here. I cannot care for him myself while working," said Siraj Khan.

Photo: Kamila Hyat/IRIN

The town of Balakot and villages surrounding it were wiped out by the quake on 8 October 2005

Since the earthquake, most of its victims have been able to resume lives interrupted by the quake. Most of the 3.5 million people left homeless by it have been re-housed. A minority await shelter, mainly in areas such as Balakot and the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Muzzafarabad.

Balakot, a town found to lie along a fault-line, is to be moved to a new location. The logistics involved in this, and the reluctance of people to move, have held up reconstruction in some cases.

However, this winter, the people of Balakot will have houses.

ERRA (Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Authority), the body set up by the Pakistan government in the immediate aftermath of the disaster to oversee reconstruction work and coordinate the efforts of hundreds of international and local organisations, announced in a statement on 25 September that a memorandum of understanding had been signed with the non-governmental organisation (NGO), Church World Service, to provide transitional homes by December this year to 60 families affected by the quake.

Lt-Gen Sajjad Akram, deputy chairman of ERRA, commented two weeks ago, while inaugurating a new government school in Battagram, one of the worst affected areas in the NWFP, that "contributions by donors and the international community have enabled fast-track, effective and productive reconstruction work to take place."

All over the quake-affected zone, families have moved back into homes, children go to school and shops in small markets carry out their business. The devastated fields have once more been ploughed and planted. Crops have been cut and stored, goats and cows graze once more in pastures.

Photo: David Swanson/IRIN

Three years on, the "scars" left by the disaster have still to fade

However, some scars cannot easily be wiped away. Families like those of young Karamullah Khan have forever been devastated. In total, 50,000 children are believed to have been orphaned by the quake, according to estimates by the NGO Caritas Pakistan.

There is also the trauma that lingers for survivors, with Sidra Bibi, 25, from the Battagram area saying: "Every few nights I have a nightmare in which the scenes from that day are replayed; I hear screams and moans, and I even smell the terrible odour of death that hung everywhere after the quake."

Sidra's sister and brother died in the disaster. The once unusual sight of wheelchairs and crutches in areas hit by the quake is another reminder of the havoc it caused.

Three years on, the fact that most victims have been able to pick up the pieces of their disrupted lives is an encouraging sign, despite the problems that still remain and the scars that have still to fade, aid workers say.

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