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Asia Earthquake

Asia Earthquake
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Tragedies of Bagh
19 October 2005


Khulsum lost her home in the quake

High in the mountains of Bagh live the Anjum family. Their beautiful house once looked down on the vast landscape beneath them with an air of authority.

Life for the Anjum family has now changed. Home is now a tent in the garden where their house once stood.

All that remains of their house is ruins, and now the extended family of 40 huddle together at night under the emergency shelter they have been provided with.

Khulsum, 30, a nurse, tells the story of how in the space of a few seconds life took a dramatic twist for her family.

She said: "I felt something and we began reciting the Kalima. Then the walls started collapsing, they were like elastic, there was no chance to run.

"Then we saw the houses collapsing. Many children died in schools."

Like other parts of Kashmir, Bagh suffered immeasurable devastation and much of the city and surrounding villages lie in ruins.

For Khulsum and her family the following hours and days after the earthquake were simply about survival. With tears in eyes she recalls: "It happened so quickly, suddenly we were left with nothing, not even clean water.

"There is a smell in the air and the children are catching malaria and pneumonia." Khulsum's story is far from unique.

Nobody else has come to help us

Khushal Ahmed, who lives in the nearby village of Dhar Dali has just buried his seventeen-year-old daughter Shazia. She was crushed when her family house collapsed during the quake.


Khushal Ahmedlost his seventeen-year-old daughter

Holding back the tears he remembers the moment the disaster occurred: "Everyone was running to their own houses. My children were in the house when it collapsed, my eldest died. I asked people for help and we managed to recover her body.

"I just wanted to get my daughter's body out. She was studying and she never caused me a single problem. She loved the other children."

Islamic Relief was the first organisation to provide tents and emergency aid to the people of Bagh.

Khushal, like many others in the city, now lives in a tent provided by Islamic Relief. He said: "Islamic Relief helped us all. Nobody else has come as yet. We want to thank those who have helped us from abroad when we are in this situation."

Bagh – a city in grief

The city is south of Muzaffarabad and felt the full impact of the devastating quake. Many still lie buried under piles of rubble which have now become their graves in this once bustling city.

Just like Muzaffarabad, schools and colleges in the city of Bagh have hundreds of teachers and pupils buried under their rubble. Grieving parents have given up all hope of recovering their bodies.

Report by Jamsheed Din, IR correspondent in Pakistan



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