News
Thursday, October 03, 2013
A village where quake razed the signs of life
AWARAN: Meaning of life has changed for most of us as a massive earthquake razed our entire village, said Muhammad Jamil whose six family members died in the catastrophe which struck Awaran on September 24.
With choked voice, tears rolling down, Muhammad Jamil, a resident of Rehmat Baazar village in Jhal Baidi area of Awaran Tehsil, said that his family is grieved after the loss of six members in the earthquake.
“I have lost my daughter, two nieces, a nephew, a granddaughter and a daughter in law,” he said, adding, “Although we have received food, tents and other stuff, those who left us would never return.”
He said some others were hospitalised while a few were living in makeshift houses built by them in the village they were living.
Jhal Baidi is an area in Tehsil Awaran with many small villages. At least 18 persons were killed and over 50 injured in Rehmat Baazar village when the quake jolted parts of Balochistan.
There were 25,000 people living in Rehmat Baazar village, former tehsil nazim and elder of the village Muhammad Yaqoob Qambrani said.
The quake of 7.7 magnitude on the Richter scale played havoc in the area destroying all the houses, he said. It is completely flattened as if no one ever lived here, he lamented.
He said that due to widespread devastation, huge loss to the infrastructure and non-availability of district administration, the survivors immediately launched the rescue operation on their own and retrieved the bodies from the rubble.
“It was third day of the quake, when local administration and army troops carrying tents, food packets reached us,” he said. Highlighting the sufferings of the quake-stricken people, he said the survivors were still facing difficulties.
“Our village is 12 kilometres from Awaran town and lack of toilets, edible water and dispensary is causing outbreak of throat related diseases.”
Awaran Tehsildar Abdul Ghafoor Shah said that local administration was aware of the issues being faced by the quake victims and is striving to ensure availability of water tanks, doctors and dispensary in every village.
“Awaran is a so called village as the district administration here has zero facilities,” he said, adding that all stuff reaching in the affected areas is coming either from Karachi or Quetta.
He, however, assured that water tanks and transportation facility to Rehmat Village residents would be provided at the earliest. He said that under the supervision of army, six truckloads of relief goods have been sent to the quake victims of Rehmat Village.
To a question, he said there were dozens of villages where all the houses have been destroyed, adding that rehabilitation was a next step to be launched once the rescue and relief activities were over.
Despite several attacks on the army and Frontier Corps, they are engaged in relief work in the area.
About 17 NGOs are also assisting the government in its rescue and relief efforts in Awaran. The extent of calamity was so massive that about 25,000 families have been rendered homeless and about 200,000 people are awaiting help. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk