From 2005 Earthquake book by Fatima Bhutto

STORY # 2: I Remember



Naheed Akhtar is Afira Naz's mother & I remember her as being a great support to her daughter. She is a senior teacher at the Girl's High School in District Poonch, Muzaffarabad, & was by her daughter's side at the SACHET Earthquake Relief Hospital. She listened, with obvious love & pride, to every word Afira spoke 7 never attempted to intervene & speak for her. Naheed seemed so focused on her child that it was not until I read her own account of the earthquake that I realized she had been through a trauma of her own.



This is her story.



On the morning of 8 October 2005, when the earthquake struck, I was at school, setting the Urdu paper for Grade Ten. As the ground shook, I started reciting the Kalma straight away. I thought that the earthquake was going to be a mild one that would soon pass but I soon realized that it would not. teachers started running out of the building & I told them to sit down & pray. That's when the earthquake became more intense. There were no more options-we all ran out of our classrooms. As I was running, it felt as if the earth was slipping from underneath me. I managed to get out of the building & joined the middle & high school girls who were also outside. All the katcha houses in the vicinity had fallen & there was so much smoke & dust in the air that the whole town appeared enveloped in darkness.



At that moment I felt that Qiamat(the Day of Judgement) was upon us & I started praying. The school walls had totally collapsed. I saw little girls under the big stones of the building & although it was very difficult to pull them out from under the bricks, the school staff & other kind people worked very hard to save them. One of our teachers, Khalida Parveen, was also trapped there. Her legs were badly injured; she was put on a cot & taken away. Unfortunately, the shopkeeper Pervez, who had helped us rescue the girls & Khalida, had his own tragedy to bear. His daughter, who was in the eighth grade in another school, had been killed by the earthquake. Pervez & his brother found her body & then dug the grave themselves to bury her. There were six to seven dead bodies in each house. I can give you a few names. In Jamil Shaheed's house there were six people dead including his parents. Then there was Numberdar Khan who lost seven family members; Sardar Shafi Khan's home saw the death of six of his family; Sardar Ashraf's family also lost six of its members &, I believe that further from us, the entire town of Jhunda has been totally destroyed. With so many deaths all around, it became impossible to keep count of the dead. After sending the children home we, the teachers, set off towards our own homes. Each of us was worried about our own children. No one knew in what condition we'd eventually find them.



I told the teachers, "You take care of other people's children; Allah will take care of yours." Everybody was crying & praying to God. When we reached the main road we were told that there was no transport avalible. A little further on, we found that the bridge at Abbaspur, the biggest in Azad Kashmir, had been obliterated. We started walking on the road but a few men stopped us & told us not to continue because further on the road had been blocked by a landslide. We then walked along the riverbank. On the way home we saw student from the Boys High School, who were seriously injured, but because the hospital had also collapsed it was not known if they got any medical treatment.



After walking for two hours I reached Abbaspur town. When I had left it at 7:45am that morning it had been full of hustle & bustle. Now it had been reduced to dust. On the way we were told that Abbaspur High School 7 the Degree College for girls had been totally destroyed & there were bodies of dead students everywhere. Then someone told us that Kashmir Public School, in which my own children were studying, had been completely destroyed. I was devastated. Out of fear I did not ask about my children, not knowing what I might be told about them. On my way home I saw the ruins of several schools &, a little distance away from home, I was told by Afira's grandfather that her little finger had been totally crushed.



When I reached home I saw my children looking absolutely petrified. Afira's hand was hurt, but we didn't know the actual state of her finger because initial first aid 7 bandaging had been done by her aunt. When we reached the hospital we found the building in ruins. Outside the hospital grounds there were countless patients waiting to see a doctor. There was no place for people to be given drips properly; the drips were either held up by the patient's relatives or some Good Samaritan. Our worst trial was yet to unfold: it started when it began to rain. After seeking permission from Maulana Ilyas Sahib, it was announced that the injured could be brought to the mosque because its roof had remained intact though the walls had fallen.



We got Afira vaccinated &, after a few stitches, we were advised to move her to another hospital. Iftari time was approaching & people were saying that we should not travel that night but wait until the next morning. We left anyway though it took a great deal of trouble procuring a car, which we had to fill with diesel worth Rs 755. Our cousin Ikhlaq Ayub drove us to Hajira. From there we rented another car for Rs 3000 & reached the PIMS Hospital in Islamabad. We were already strained financially & thought we would have trouble getting medical attention. However, as soon as we reached the PIMS we were taken care of &, by midnight, Afira was x-rayed, given stitches, & admitted as a patient.



A close relative of ours, Danial Ahmad Jamal, was brought to the same hospital with a fractured leg. A few girls from Bagh, who had lost their mother & brothers, were also there. Seeing others in such a bad state made us feel that our situation was fortunate by comparison. After a week we were refferred to the SACHET Hospital where Dr Habib, Dr Irum, Dr Noreen, & all the nurses took good care of us. They created a homely environment for us. My girl's little finger was amputated & her two other fingers were also affected. Her hand is not moving properly yet. The doctors say she should try to exercise her hand.

We pray to Allah to bless these doctors & to keep Banigala always safe. I pray that God will make my daughter well again, the way she was before the earthquake. I am quite hopeful that she still has the courage to think positively & follow her dream.

Page# 5 from 8:50 A.M 8 October 2005