There
is not much left of the village of Shamlai at the end of the
road up in the mountains from the town of Batagram in Pakistan.
“We have no electricity and phone lines are not working
so we cannot tell anyone what we need,” says Shahd Mohammed,
the Nasim (or elected leader) of the villages of Shamlai and
Bansaib.
The road is steep and narrow. Landslides have littered what’s
left of the pavement with stones. Slowly we make our way between
the rocks lying on the road. We have already passed two villages,
Bansaib and Jesil and Shamlai is the last one.
The death toll in the villages of Shamlai and Bansaib is 172
to date. Six thousand people were injured, fifty per cent of
them seriously. “There are so many children among the
dead and injured”, Shahd Mohammed says.
Like in many other places, the school felt the full impact when
the earthquake struck on Saturday morning, just before nine
o'clock local time. “We do not know how many we lost,
the number of dead might still rise,” he notes.
The International Federation is making an assessment in and
around Batagram to find out what the needs are. Shamlai was
not accessible by road until the day we arrived. Heavy rains
during the night made the transport conditions even worse.
“The thing that also worries us is the fact that a lot
of the cattle died as well. There are still dead animals lying
around and they might become a health risk.” However,
even though cattle were lost, there is no immediate need for
food aid, Shahd Mohammed explains and points with his finger
to the surrounding small corn fields.
The village has never had a problem with access to water, because
there is a stream running down from the top of the hills through
the village. But since the earthquake the water has become muddy
from fallen debris.
By now the crowd of villagers that gather around Ali, the secretary
of the branch of the North Western Frontier Provinces Pakistan
Red Crescent Society, my Japanese colleague, Doctor Yabumoto,
and myself, has become bigger.
I look around me and see only men and children - mainly boys.
“Can I speak with a woman?” I ask. Immediately they
take me a bit further into what is left of the village, we jump
over holes in the ground, climb on top of the piles of rubble
and rocks. Seventy per cent of the village was destroyed, they
tell me.
Under a temporary roof, made of whatever has been able to retrieve
from the rubble, sits Shagusta. “We desperately need shelter,”
she says. “We have absolutely nothing, everything is gone
and the nights are cold. We are so worried about what will happen
when winter really starts.” In Shamlai, temperatures drop
well below zero, reaching minus six Celsius.
Moving away from the village into the nearest town, Batagram,
is no solution either. Huge parts of Batagram were affected
and the large, 90-bed hospital is completely gone.
For the moment patients are brought to a makeshift hospital.
Many Pakistani doctors from other parts of the country have
come to help as volunteers.
“For the moment we can cope, even though we are not able
to treat all injuries. We have to move those who have been seriously
injured to hospitals in bigger cities. Fortunately we can do
it by helicopter,” Surgeon Khar Baihadayr says.
In the destroyed hospital area, some buildings are still standing.
In the yard of one of them we find Abdul Rashid, the clerk of
the hospital, and his family. “We do not dare to sleep
inside anymore so we have brought out our mattresses and sleep
outdoors,” he says.
“But what do you do when it rains?” I ask. “Well,
we just go under the roof of the veranda and wait until it stop,”
he says. They too list shelter as the most urgent need. “Building
materials can be purchased locally. But we will not be able
to complete any building before winter is here,” they
explain, with resignation.
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Ali,
the secretary of the branch of the North Western Frontier
Provinces Pakistan Red Crescent Society and doctor Yabumoto.
(p13384)
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Moving
away from the village into the nearest town, Batagram,
is no solution either. Huge parts of Batagram were affected
and the large, 90-bed hospital is completely gone.
For the moment patients are brought to a makeshift hospital.
(p13385)
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|
|
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The
village has never had a problem with access to water,
because there is a stream running down from the top of
the hills through the village. But since the earthquake
the water has become muddy from fallen debris. (p13386)
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