Hundreds of families who became victim to the disastrous earthquake of Oct 08, 2005 are forced to lead miserable lives, despite the passage of seven years.
The earthquake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, devastated Balakot and Muzaffarabad, killing more than 80,000 people and rendering thousands of others disabled. The infrastructure of the cities was also completely destroyed.
The government and foreign NGOs ‘provided prefabricated houses to the affected population as temporary residence and declared Balakot as a red zone.’ It announced the construction of New Balakot at an alternate location.
The government also banned permanent construction of houses and commercial buildings in the red zone pledging to provide houses and employment facilities in New Balakot. However, despite the passage of seven years, the affected population has been leading a life in prefabricated houses, which are hardly a shelter in extreme weathers and pose a life-threatening risk as they are highly inflammable. A number of lives have been lost in different incidents where the houses would catch fire, burning the residents alive.
Only 14 percent of development work has been done on New Balakot City Project, and even now it is estimated to take another two years to complete. When contacted in this regard, the administration said that despite provisioning of compensation and allocation of plots in New Balakot, affected residents and property owners are not ready to handover the possession of their current land-holdings, and this has been the biggest hurdle in completion of the project. The citizens of Balakot were of the view that if the government could not provide them an alternate place then it should allow them to reconstruct their houses to get rid of the miserable conditions they were living in.
Meanwhile, a mourning day was observed across Balakot city to remember the martyrs of the dreadful earthquake. The day started with prayers in the mosques. Special programmes to mark the occasion were held in educational and other institutions.
The 7th anniversary of the earthquake was observed as National Disaster Awareness day. Special ceremonies were held to express solidarity with the people of quake-hit AJK zone.
A ceremony in a local hotel was held to mark the day in which rich tribute was paid to the victims of the country’s worst natural catastrophe. The day dawned with special prayers in the mosques across AJK for the departed souls of the quake victims. It was a state holiday in AJK.
A major ceremony to observe the anniversary was held in the capital Muzaffarabad that was attended by dignitaries, including the AJK president and prime minister, ministers, members of both houses of parliament, social and political workers, workers of NGOs and general public.
Rallies, seminars and symposiums were also held in various parts of AJK, including Mirpur, Kotli and Bhimber districts in memory of the quake martyrs.
Officials said 60 percent of the reconstruction and rehabilitation work in the quake-hit AJK had so far been completed with help from financial assistance by the government of Pakistan and foreign donors. Secretary to the AJK government Sardar Muhammad Raheem said the remaining 40 percent of the stipulated reconstruction and rehabilitation work was targeted to be completed by the end of 2014. The government spent Rs 28 billion for reconstruction and rehabilitation projects while rest of the proposed allocated amount of Rs 40 billion was immediately required for completion of the projects, he said.
Earthquake victims of Balakot miserable even after 7 years
