Zahoor Abassi, Pakistan "All I want is the same life I had before the earthquake"

Zahoor Abassi lost his sister and a grandmother in the October earthquake that killed over 80,000 people in northern Pakistan. His family home was also destroyed and he now lives in a three-bedroom rented house with 10 other family members.

The 22-year-old owns a small jewellery shop in the city of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. There are some 50 jewellers selling gold in Muzaffarabd, and Zahoor's shop is in one of the labyrinthine alleys of the once packed and sprawling Medina market, the commercial heart of the city. Following the quake, shoppers must now negotiate huge mounds of crumbling rubble and collapsed buildings that are strewn across the market.

Although most shops are either closed or destroyed, the market is slowly coming back to life.

"A lot of people died in Medina market. I saw over 20 bodies in this street alone. But the bodies were in very bad condition and you couldn't recognise who it was, so nobody really knows who died.

There are far fewer people in Muzaffarabad now as most locals left for other places around the country.

Gold is important for families as every father must buy gold for their daughter's wedding. There were lots of rich people in Muzaffarabad before the earthquake, but even poor people buy gold, just less of it.

I lost some gold when the earthquake happened from looting. I was in the shop at the time and I put as much gold as I could in the safe before I left.

Before the earthquake, when people got married they would buy much more gold, about 120 g for the bride to wear, and there were one or two weddings every day. After the earthquake, people don't have any money and now they order no more than 36 g. People don't have big wedding parties anymore, just simple weddings, although more people are getting married than before the earthquake - God knows why, I don't understand it.

People's tastes have changed since the earthquake. Before, people were interested in the latest designs and they would take time to design their own gold jewellery, but now they like simple designs and they don't have time anymore. And then people would start shopping a month before the wedding, now they shop just a day or two before.

My biggest problem is not having a house. In Muzaffarabad, over 90 percent of homes were destroyed or damaged, so they are dangerous to live in. There are not enough houses to go round.

After the earthquake, business has gone down and we've lost our home but we earn enough money to survive. I'm OK. But all I want is the same life I had before the earthquake."