A life in the rubble
There was nothing to mark where the classroom had been except for a fenced off patch of bumpy grass covered in flowers and tinsel. This, a sign says, is the mass grave of 63 girls who died when their school collapsed on top of them.
Welcome to Balakot.
A small town in a green and airy valley, Balakot was one of the areas worst affected by the quake - 90% of the town was destroyed in a few minutes and nearly 14,000 people were killed.
We spent Tuesday taking a reporter/photographer team from the Times newspaper around the earthquake affected area, starting in Muzaffarrabad and then over to the neighbouring town of Balakot, about two hours' drive away.
Balakot is a ramshackle wreck. Doorframes loom out of rubble and cracks zig-zag up walls. The main bazaar area used to be full of three-storey buildings but now no building tops ten feet high, as the roofs and upper levels concertinaed down on the unfortunate inhabitants.
Nothing has been rebuilt here at all. The Pakistani government has decreed that the area is too dangerous and wants to move everyone left in Balakot into a nearby, and hopefully safer, area. So lots of people here are still languishing in tents, shacks and other distinctly temporary accommodation. Unfortunately many Balakot residents don't want to leave their home town at the government's behest and the result is a lot of traumatised and angry people.
Javed Iqbal, a local journalist, told us that although a quarter of the remaining population had gone to the big cities in Pakistan, the rest were in no mood to shift.
We found two sisters, Robina and Ruby Shaheen, living in an open-sided tent. They'd lost two sisters and their brother, as well as many members of their extended family.
The women, both in their 20s, had calipers on their legs after falling masonry caused multiple fractures. Before the earthquake their family had owned a hotel. Now all their worldly goods are stacked in metal trunks in the back of the tent.
"We don't want to go to the new town," Ruby said. "We want to live here, where our ancestors are buried. We've lived here for generations.
"I want the old days back, even though I know that can't happen."
Welcome to Balakot.
A small town in a green and airy valley, Balakot was one of the areas worst affected by the quake - 90% of the town was destroyed in a few minutes and nearly 14,000 people were killed.
We spent Tuesday taking a reporter/photographer team from the Times newspaper around the earthquake affected area, starting in Muzaffarrabad and then over to the neighbouring town of Balakot, about two hours' drive away.
Balakot is a ramshackle wreck. Doorframes loom out of rubble and cracks zig-zag up walls. The main bazaar area used to be full of three-storey buildings but now no building tops ten feet high, as the roofs and upper levels concertinaed down on the unfortunate inhabitants.
Nothing has been rebuilt here at all. The Pakistani government has decreed that the area is too dangerous and wants to move everyone left in Balakot into a nearby, and hopefully safer, area. So lots of people here are still languishing in tents, shacks and other distinctly temporary accommodation. Unfortunately many Balakot residents don't want to leave their home town at the government's behest and the result is a lot of traumatised and angry people.
Javed Iqbal, a local journalist, told us that although a quarter of the remaining population had gone to the big cities in Pakistan, the rest were in no mood to shift.
We found two sisters, Robina and Ruby Shaheen, living in an open-sided tent. They'd lost two sisters and their brother, as well as many members of their extended family.
The women, both in their 20s, had calipers on their legs after falling masonry caused multiple fractures. Before the earthquake their family had owned a hotel. Now all their worldly goods are stacked in metal trunks in the back of the tent.
"We don't want to go to the new town," Ruby said. "We want to live here, where our ancestors are buried. We've lived here for generations.
"I want the old days back, even though I know that can't happen."
Posted by Sean Kenny
on October 4, 2006 01:38 PM | Permalink
Comments
Thank's OXFAM to help us in this biggest humanitarian disaster of recent times.
Waqas Zahoor | October 13, 2006 05:57 PM