Back to square one for many – People in Pakistan’s northern conflict zone have suffered repeated calamities
ISLAMABAD, 11 August 2010 (IRIN): Many of the victims of the current floods, which the Pakistan government says have now affected 13,8 million people, were still recovering from past disasters or conflict when they were hit by this latest calamity.
– My brother tells me from our village near the town of Sharda in the Neelum Valley that the house we finished building just two years ago, after our old one was destroyed in the 2005 quake, has been badly damaged by the rains and torrents coming down from the hills, said Rafiq Muhammad, 50, who runs a tea kiosk in Islamabad.
The Neelum Valley in Pakistan-administered Kashmir was one of the areas worst hit by the 2005 quake, which killed at least 73.000 people.
Muhammad lost a son in that disaster and now works away from his mountain home to “help pay the medical costs for my wife, who still has pain from a back injury sustained during the quake and also suffers depression”.
While the Neelum Valley is reported by the media to have been badly hit by floods, damage assessments are still continuing in the area.
So far, 63 deaths have been reported in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Over 20 landslides block the Neelum Valley Road, making rescue attempts and aid delivery difficult.
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