Fresh tremors bring new challenges

As fresh tremors shook northern Pakistan on Sunday night, Zainab Khatoon from Bisham, a town of some 30,000 people, 250 km from the capital, Islamabad, began screaming in fear. The town is close to the epicentre of the original earthquake that struck more than two weeks ago. The 17-year-old did not stop for over an hour and then only when a paramedic, apparently no longer able to take the screams ringing out in the darkness, injected her with a powerful sedative. "She has lost her mind since the quake. Her entire family has been killed. Only an aunt survives and she has a broken leg," said Nazeera Begum, a neighbour, as she helped Zainab lie down on a thin mattress spread out on the open ground and pried open her tightly clenched fists to release their grip from Nazeera's shawl. The tremors, which measured 5.9 on the Richter scale, have been the most severe aftershocks still being felt almost every day since the massive earthquake that hit the region on 8 October, killing more than 50,000 people. Sunday's tremors immediately created panic in many affected areas, including the villages scattered across the Allai administrative area of Battagram and the adjacent Shangla district. People raced out of their shelters, with the sound of crying children, and tumbling objects were heard everywhere. The pitch darkness in towns such as Bisham, where power has still to be restored, added to the sense of terror. Only flickering fires, around which families huddled close together, broke the darkness and the panic, even after the tremors subsided after around six minutes. Almost no one returned to the buildings still standing in the town through the night. The death toll in the scattered settlements of the Shangla and Allai areas is still unclear. However, it is thought over 1,000 people died in the remote Allai area, in Battagram district and at least 289 in Shangla district. Over 500,000 people have been affected. Roads reaching many parts of the area are still to be opened and the first snows have already covered the hills around Allai in a thin coat of white. On Monday, some relief workers were seen moving out of the area due to the threat from the aftershocks. Some attempted to leave Sunday night, packing things into vehicles and revving up engines, but the broken roads, reports of fresh landslides and darkness forced them to spend an extra eight hours or so, till the first light of dawn lit up the skies, in Bisham. Kaleem, a resident of Bisham, told IRIN "The Mary Stopes Society (MSS) were among the first to get here. They left around three days ago because of the tremors." He added, "I can't say anyone blames them. Others are leaving too, including a German church group that has been here for over a week." MSS works mainly in the area of health and had set up a relief centre near Bisham. Not only relief workers, but even local people who are able to do so were attempting to make their way to 'safer' areas, in Mansehra, Abbotabad and Rawalpindi, next to the federal capital, Islamabad. "My children are too scared to stay. So is my wife. We will go to Rawalpindi and try to shift into a camp. I am leaving my house and all my belongings inside it, because our lives are more precious even than what little we have in the way of money or jewellery," said Ayub Khan, 40, from Ribat village in Allai, as he proceeded down the Bana-Thakot road in an open van, clutching what few items the family possessed in a single plastic bag. Many people from Bisham have already left. Others are now following and reassurances by the Pakistan Metrological Department, that the aftershocks are unlikely to become any more severe, have done little to settle jittery nerves. Relief workers that have opted to stay in the area also fear the departure of a number of volunteers could affect relief operations. "The situation is very bad. People are still trapped in the mountains. They cannot get down and we must try and reach them. If doctors and other volunteers go away, it will take longer to provide them help," said Khizar Abbas, a volunteer doctor. There are also other perils, apart from the tremors, that are threatening survivors. The combination of candles, open fires and highly flammable tents is proving dangerous, and at least three separate incidents have been reported from the blighted region over the past four days in which tents have caught fire and people suffered injuries when oil stoves, lanterns or candles tipped over. In the worst incident, reported Sunday from Balakot, a father and two children were hospitalised with severe burn injuries, after a candle in their tent set it ablaze. The congested housing conditions, with up to seven or eight people crammed into a single tent and children playing close to unguarded open fires of course adds to the tremendous risks. The lack of any fire safety precautions at even the larger tented villages cropping up at Balakot and elsewhere adds to this. The fresh tremors, difficult living conditions and biting cold are all helping to drive volunteers away. Many have taken leave from offices or universities to work in quake-affected areas. Others say the families they have left behind are now urging them to return. Not only volunteers, who have gone up to quake-devastated areas from Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Quetta and other Pakistani cities, but also many of the survivors, have begun making an exodus down the roads that lead south. "We cannot survive winter here. I am going to Lahore with my five children," said Abdul Mateen, who works as an odd-job man in the city, and it seems that others are increasingly opting to go south for the winter, as icy winds lash the mountain valleys and night time temperatures descend to below zero.