Pakistan quake survivors living in the rubble

[Salahuddin]

After the Pakistan earthquake a year ago, Zafar Shah from Bradford travelled to the affected region with his elderly mother to trace relatives living there.
Recently they returned to Muzaffarabad to see how their family were coping 12 months on.


Muzaffarabad one year after the earthquake remains devastated

Malik Zaman is a 97-year-old veteran of World War II.

His home was badly cracked in the earthquake and clearly it isn't safe.

But many friends and relatives lost their homes entirely and there are now 10 people sleeping there every night.

Among them are two young children whose mother was killed in the earthquake.

Zafar is shocked to see the conditions that they are living in.

"This is just one room and every single wall has a crack - it looks like lightning has passed through this. This is awful.

"The kitchen's got an absolutely huge crack right through the centre, it's unbelievable.

Bribery claims

"What's most worrying is that we've got an old lady here, who's bedridden, and behind her the crack runs for the entire breadth of the house."

Zafar is told that when the military came out to assess damage to the house, they wanted a bribe.

"If you gave them 20,000 rupees (£175) they would process the claim in your favour," says Zafar.

"If you refused to offer the bribe they finalised a report that said that the house was fit to live in for everyone, which is what's happened here."

Relief agencies have successfully settled some of those who lost homes in the earthquake but others who escaped from remote villages in the mountains say there is little hope of going back to areas still completely covered in rubble.

Outside Muzaffarabad, Zafar is shown the remains of a school which had 500 pupils.


Some children live in temporary camps following the disaster

"On the day of the earthquake that school just got flattened - there were no survivors and because of where it is they haven't been able to take any machinery there to actually clear it all up.

"So that school - so what was a school, the rubble - is as it was a year ago.

"And I can only feel for the parents there because most of the children are just buried there, it's become a big graveyard."

Disaster officials estimate that close to a million people are homeless.

Many are still living in tents and are facing the prospect of spending a second winter in freezing conditions under canvas.

Zafar has brought some thick winter coats and sleeping bags donated from people in Bradford.

Many families in Britain with links to those affected in Pakistan have been supplying clothing and money to help.

Among those living in the makeshift camp, he finds his 33-year-old cousin, Nasreen. She tells Zafar that she fears for her four children as winter approaches.

As far as land, houses, money, education's concerned, nothing's happened for them, it's just a struggle

Zafar Shah

The government is committed to closing tented cities like the one they're living in and they face losing even this makeshift roof over their heads.

"As far as land, houses, money, education's concerned, nothing's happened for them, it's just a struggle," says Zafar.

"And they're just thinking what they're going to do next because the university - the campus here - are putting a lot of pressure on them to move out and they have no idea where they're going to go."

Perhaps the most tragic legacy of the earthquake is the grief of those who lost loved ones in the earthquake.

Lifelong change

In Muzaffarabad more than half of the school-aged children were killed.

Another of Zafar's relatives, a young medical student called Hadia Niaz lost her mother when the school she was teaching in was destroyed.

"Psychologically I really have been disturbed, because even now it's going to be a year and we're just not really accepting the thing.

"I'm just memorising how my mum was taking care of me, how she used to like teach me the things, I'm really missing that.

"It was really far more than an earthquake, a disaster. My life has really been changed and this isn't just for a moment, for an hour or for a day, this is for the whole life through."

It's My Story: Beyond the Rubble is on Radio 4 on Sunday 8 October at 1330 BST or online for seven days afterwards at the Listen again page.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5415352.stm

 

[Salahuddin]

The earthquake which devastated Pakistan exposed the incompetence of Musharraf's government. The Muslims of Pakistan have suffered under previous administrations, but Musharraf has broken all records in his ineptitude. His sincerity to Pakistan is reflected in his shear inability to care for the people, supposedly in his charge, in conjunction with his deference to forces outside Pakistan. His relationship with the US is tantamount to treachery. If we were to review his military spending program and his actual use of the troops in recent years; we see that his inaction over the Kashmiri earthquake was totally in line with track record of serving his puppet masters in the West.

 

[Salahuddin]

Since 1998 Pakistan has invested more than $50 billion in its military, considering that the external debt of Pakistan stands at $34.77 billion. This investment is from the taxes levied on Pakistani people and revenues generated from the resource of Pakistan. After such an investment the people would normally expect the army to be there in the time of need. The army has been there in the past whenever Pakistan was threatened by India. However since Musharraf usurped power in Pakistan he has pimped the army to service the whims of the US. There are 8,183 Pakistani soldiers serving under UN peace keeping and humanitarian missions. They have been deployed under the most hostile conditions in Congo, Liberia, Haiti and Sierra Leone. Pakistan is the largest contributor of troops to the UN missions. In contrast the US contributes a mere 428 troops. These missions only serve the foreign policy objectives of the US and bring no benefit for Pakistan. The Pakistani troops have been decorated for excelling in their work on these missions. But when it came to the earthquake where was this expertise? The army is preoccupied giving unstinted support to the US and the people have been left to fend for themselves. The people are dying because of the failure of the government to provide them with aid and shelter. The response of Musharraf is indicative of how detached he is from the people. This also is true for other Muslim rulers today like Mubarrak and Karzai. In deed this is a typical response of all those that currently rule over the Islamic world. However this was not always the case. Let us look back at the time of Umar bin Al Khattab (ra) and see how he responded to the famine which afflicted the Muslims in Madina.

 

[Salahuddin]

In the year 18 AH, known as Aam al Ramada (yaer of the Ashes), there was no rain for nine months. As a result Madina was hit by a severe famine. Umar bin Al Khattab (ra) wrote to all provincial governors to send food to Madina Immediately. He did not ask for help from the Byzantines and Persians. Abu Obaidah bin Al Jarrah, the governor of Syria, sent four thousand camels loaded with grain and Amr bin Al-Aas the Governor of Egypt sent 20 ships full of food. He commissioned two large buildings to be built to store this food. Then he (ra) appointed Zaid bin Thaabit (ra) to list all the people who needed aid and the amount of food they required. The coupons bearing the seal of Umar (ra), the Khalifah were issued to the people. They could then obtain the food in an orderly manner.

 

[Salahuddin]

This contrasts greatly with scenes from Pakistan where the food trucks were driven to the earthquake hit area and people were left to grab what they can. Even animals in the zoo are treated with more dignity. In Madina, Umar (ra) set up centres where meals were cooked every morning and evening and Umar bin Al Khattab the Khalifah of the Muslims would sit with the people to eat. Thus everyone knew that Khalifah was eating the same food as them. It was reported that at one sitting seven thousand men ate with him and food for about fifty thousand women and children were sent to their homes. Due to the famine certain items of food were not available in the market, such as meat, butter and milk. People were eating bread dipped in oil. Umar bin Khattab made an oath that he would not eat meat, butter or drink milk until it becomes available in the market and the Muslims can buy it. He made a promise that he will not eat something that the Muslims were unable to buy. When it did first become available it was very expensive, so his servant went and bought him some butter and milk and he paid 40 dinars to buy it. He came to Umar (ra) and said Allah SWT has fulfilled your oath and he will reward you greatly for what you have done now there is milk and butter in the market so I bought you some and it cost 40 dinars. Umar bin Al Khattab said that is too expensive and viewed that as Israf excess. He further added, "How can I be concerned about my subjects if I am not going through what they are going through, how can I feel for them if I am not going through the same hunger and thirst that they feel. As a leader I will not be just and fair with my subjects If don’t put myself in their shoes."

 

[Salahuddin]

On one occasion when a camel was slaughtered in Madina and food was served to Umar bin Al Khattab he found big chunks of meat in his plate. He refused to eat saying, “I do not want to eat these big chunks of meat and leave meatless bones for other Muslims”. Umar used to spend the night in supplication to Allah and the day in distributing food to the people of Madina.

We should pause for a moment to contrast this with the rulers of Pakistan, Musharraf and his Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. They turned up in their bullet proof car at the site of Margalla towers, which had collapsed in the earthquake. People were digging out the victim with their bare hands. Musharraf presence had temporarily stopped the rescue mission and a man shouted angrily "Mr Musharraf, please leave as soon as possible. Your people are not letting us work". He realised the people detested his presence so he left immediately. The ruler of Pakistan is totally detached from the people while the victims of the earthquake are living out in the open with little food and water. While Musharraf and his ministers are living in luxury, they do not feel the pain of the people. They are not only detached from the people, their loyalty belongs elsewhere, the ministers had to declare their assets to the electoral commission of Pakistan. Shaukat Aziz has 310,000 pounds in London banks and 3 million dollars in Citibank in the US. He also owns an apartment in the US (Manhattan) worth $5 million and also a flat in UK worth RS10.4 million. The South Asian Tribune also documented other Ministers and Senators wealth, their foreign bank accounts and assets made most of the 100 senators millionaires or billionaires. One of the senator's wealth totals up to Rs3.36755 billions and his major business is in the US. Some of them were US citizens and have spent most of their lives in the US. They cannot relate to the people of Pakistan. If their wealth is in foreign accounts and their investment is the US and Europe how can they have any loyalty to Pakistan and represent the interest of the people of Pakistan.

 

[Salahuddin]

hile Musharraf and his ministers are living in luxury, they do not feel the pain of the people. They are not only detached from the people, their loyalty belongs elsewhere, the ministers had to declare their assets to the electoral commission of Pakistan. Shaukat Aziz has 310,000 pounds in London banks and 3 million dollars in Citibank in the US. He also owns an apartment in the US (Manhattan) worth $5 million and also a flat in UK worth RS10.4 million.

 

[Awesome]

Everyone contributed what they could to uplift human strife. The disaster was bigger than a nine month famine (in the desert, where its the norm) involving a fewer amount of people.

Musharraf and his family sponsored marriages of secured money for the local people from different nations who could contribute and pay up. It was Pakistan's time of need. Everyone at the time predicted it would be a good decade before life returns to normal over there. Cities had flattened, if you'd recall.

 

[Salahuddin]

Has anyone seen these ministers on GEO news having expencive iftar parties in five star hotels, while lot of of our brothers have to live in tents and most dont have any food to open there fast with. It makes me sick.

 

[Spring Onion]

Lay off

u dont know anything i had travalled to AJK and Balakot

and i know how our armed forces and ordinary people are doing their best.


So plz u keep ur BS to urself

 

[Salahuddin]

Lay off

u dont know anything i had travalled to AJK and Balakot

and i know how our armed forces and ordinary people are doing their best.


So plz u keep ur BS to urself

The Pakistan senators exposed the criminal regime of Musharraf – in Nov 2005 reported in the Nation (www.nation.com.pk) Senator Anwer Baig “He questioned that why the 50 thermal cameras possessed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) were not utilised during the rescue work while only 4 cameras brought in by the foreign rescue teams to save at least 600 lives in quake-hit areas … “Senator Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan said that on one the government has a fleet of over 100 Mercedes for VVIPs but on the other hand the country is lacking in disaster or crisis management equipment to deal with calamity-like situation such as October 8 earthquake”.

While the Muslims are struggling in the harsh winter condition where snow has hindered the Aid effort by independent Muslim organisations the Government of Musharraf has not shifted a single Pakistani soldier from the 70,000 stationed on the Pakistan Afghan border fighting the Muslims in America’s War on terror. In Balochistan he has waged war against the Muslims. He has shifted four helicopters, which were deployed on quake relief work in the Kashmir, to Balochistan for use against the Marris and the Bugtis tribes. In addition to the five American Bases , he has also allowed the US military to establish a presence in Kashmir.

 

[Salahuddin]

Musharraf, who wastes the people’s money on policies designed to help Western interests only, like fighting wars against his own people in the tribal areas or implementing harsh IMF restructuring policies. In the North West Frontier province hit by the earthquake many that are not killed by the earthquake will be killed by Musharraf’s army searching for al-Qaida or through poverty due to his economic polices.

 

[Nasir]

First of all not enough money or taxes are given to the government, if it all the people from karachi enough are to be able to pay proper taxes then our government wouldn't need no aid, or anything to help themselves.

Fighting war on terror? People dont pay for that. It is the U.S who pays for it. Restructuring is a must.

Now dont be a fool Salahuddin!

How are the people from earth quake will die from the Pakistan Army search in the western side of Pakistan while the earth quake survivors and earth quake occured in the Eastern region of Pakistan, Kashmir, Islamabad, etc..

Where are you getting your facts from? Or do you not get tired of blaming and accusing Musharraf?

 

[Neo]

GoP has spent Pkr50 billion in housing and another 50 billion in direct money handout to the victoms, an amount that equals $1.0 billion.
More than half the affected, i.e. 1.8 million have been provided with proper houses or shelters.

The disaster is simply too big for us.
Don't forget that even the mighty USA is still struggling to bring back life to normal in the Katarina hit New Orleans.

 

[Bull]

GoP has spent Pkr50 billion in housing and another 50 billion in direct money handout to the victoms, an amount that equals $1.0 billion.
More than half the affected, i.e. 1.8 million have been provided with proper houses or shelters.

The disaster is simply too big for us.
Don't forget that even the mighty USA is still struggling to bring back life to normal in the Katarina hit New Orleans.

Got a point there.