PESHAWAR, 8 October 2008 (IRIN) – Karamullah Khan, aged five, can remember nothing of the day three years ago that changed forever the life of his family. The boy was only two when the devastating earthquake of 8 October 2005 hit North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, bringing the roof of his house crashing down. At least 72,000 were killed.
Three members of Karamullah’s immediate family – his mother, his elder sister and grandmother – died in their village about 10 km from Balakot (200 km north of Islamabad, population 30.000), which was virtually wiped out.
The child’s father, Siraj Khan, was among the 70.000 people estimated by the World Bank to have been severely injured or disabled as a result of the disaster.
Khan, who suffered head and back injuries, now works as an office assistant in the southern port city of Karachi. He can no longer carry out strenuous physical work and has been unable to find employment closer to home.
– I was hit by the falling stones from the roof of my home when it caved in. My wife and daughter died immediately. Now, if I stand for too long or lift anything heavy, my lower back hurts unbearably. Previously, I could work for up to 10 hours without flinching. Fortunately I have been able to find a job in Karachi after searching for over a year, he said.
Karamullah now lives with distant relatives in Peshawar, in a cramped three-room house that accommodates nine. He cannot remember his mother or the peaceful mountain village in which he was born. He misses his father who is able to visit him only two or three times a year. – I have no choice but to leave my son here. I cannot care for him myself while working, said Siraj Khan.
A minority await housing
Since the earthquake, most of its victims have been able to resume lives interrupted by the quake. Most of the 3,5 million people left homeless by it have been re-housed. A minority await shelter, mainly in areas such as Balakot and the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Muzzafarabad.
Balakot, a town found to lie along a fault-line, is to be moved to a new location. The logistics involved in this, and the reluctance of people to move, have held up reconstruction in some cases.
However, this winter, the people of Balakot will have houses.
ERRA (Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Authority), the body set up by the Pakistan government in the immediate aftermath of the disaster to oversee reconstruction work and coordinate the efforts of hundreds of international and local organisations, announced in a statement on 25 September that a memorandum of understanding had been signed with the non-governmental organisation (NGO), Church World Service, to provide transitional homes by December this year to 60 families affected by the quake.
Lt-Gen Sajjad Akram, deputy chairman of ERRA, commented two weeks ago, while inaugurating a new government school in Battagram, one of the worst affected areas in the NWFP, that “contributions by donors and the international community have enabled fast-track, effective and productive reconstruction work to take place”.
