Fear and uncertainty linger seven months after quake

Fareeda Bibi, 38, holds her daughter in her arms as she talks about the tough task of survival seven months after the quake that killed at least 80,000 people in northern Pakistan in October 2005. The child, Aneesa, is nearly 10 – too big to comfortably fit her mother's lap, and Fareeda peers out awkwardly from behind the child's body as she talks to IRIN. "She starts crying if I leave her alone, even for five minutes. At night, she wakes in our tent every hour or so, screaming and crying in fear," she explained. Aneesa's older sister, Amina, 12, and a younger brother, Sultan, seven, were both killed in the quake. The children were buried under the rubble of their school near Patthika, a tiny town at the entrance to the Neelum Valley, 20 km north of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. Aneesa was also at school, but managed to run out – even as the screams of buried children began to ring out. Today, she says, she hears those calls and moans all the time, sometimes calling out the names of her dead siblings as she tosses and turns in her sleep. Fareeda, and her husband, Hassan, 40, have come into Patthika to seek medical aid. Fareeda broke her foot during the quake. The couple hope also to consult doctors about their sole surviving child's mental state, which leaves her unable to return to school. They believe they must do this soon, as they have heard the international medical teams based at Patthika will soon wrap up work. "There is still a great deal of trauma everywhere, especially among the women, the young girls and the children. They just want to talk about their experiences, their feelings, their fears," nurse Annette Bellings, a volunteer with a local Christian charity who has been visiting villages across Pakistan-administered Kashmir, told IRIN. Occasional jolts, such as the 4.3 quake on the Richter scale felt on Monday in Muzaffarabad, add to the fears. Nearby Patthika has experienced similar tremors. But aside from the lingering trauma, quake victims face many other uncertainties. The hot weather closing in means that life in tents is becoming unbearable. Most in the villages dotted around Patthika have not yet started constructing their homes – with many claiming they are still awaiting the Rs 175,000 (US $2,916) promised as compensation by the Pakistani government. In parts of Kashmir, protests have been staged against the alleged failure of the Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) - a body set up by the government to oversee reconstruction activities - to provide compensation payments. "We don't know when this money will come. Our land has been washed away, we have no crops and no means to rebuild our house without it," maintained Rafiq, 30, who lives in a village in the Saidpur area, not far from Patthika. He and other victims insist bureaucracy, inefficiency and demands that those claiming compensation produce original documents such as identity cards or land ownership papers to collect the money, has meant most victims have simply not received the amount pledged. "Our papers are buried in the debris of our homes. How can we possibly produce them?" asks Rafiq. Other victims also make accusations of corruption. The ERRA, however, insists that the compensation plan is proceeding smoothly, with the director of the organisation, Brig Waqar Iqbal Raja, telling newspapers a few days ago that the authority was "determined to transform the calamity into an opportunity," and planned to assist in the reconstruction of nearly 600,000 housing units. In the quake-hit areas people also seem concerned that international organisations have begun to pull out, with many fearing for their survival in the weeks ahead. The United Nations Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC) Cargo Movement Coordination Cell (CMCC) is due to wind up operations on 31 May, and this will mean only four United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) helicopters will be left in the field. Villagers, and indeed some aid workers, worry that, with the monsoon season barely a month away, the lack of helicopters may make it impossible to deliver food and aid to areas where new landslides block roads. "These landslides take place every year. They block access roads, and everyone here is now worried about what will happen then," said Qasim, 28, a school teacher. The UN Resident Coordinator in Pakistan, Jan Vandemoortele, has said that 18 villages vulnerable to massive landslides had been identified in Muzaffarabad district and an estimated 52,000 people ”may need evacuation from these areas". Many people living even in relatively safer areas say that they cannot begin building houses because of the rains that will begin soon – and as such remain camped in precarious and increasingly tattered tents, facing a future that for many is filled with doubts, uncertainties and deep fears.