Pakistan Earthquake 2005

Covering the earthquake, the damage and the relief work in Pakistan.

Aftermath

Open Letter from Magralla Towers Victims

Margalla Towers Tragedy: An appeal to your conscience.

As you are well aware on October 8th, 2005 as a result of corruption and negligence Margala Towers collapsed, leaving 72 people dead and over two hundred families homeless. Subsequently a case was filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of all the victims (Constitutional Petition No. 26 of 2005 Saad Mazhar etc vs. C.D.A. etc.) after nearly 2 years of struggling, the victims were compensated due to an historic, precedent setting judgment/order (October 3rd, 2007) by the former Chief Justice Chaudry Ifthikhar who ordered the CDA to compensate the victims. During this process the Prime Minister created an Inspection Commission to evaluate the technical causes of the collapse. The final report was made confidential. The victims felt that a milestone had been achieved and an element of accountability had been introduced into the nation and its governance. As a nation we are still grappling with questions of social responsibility and social accountability.  Read more... (410 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

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Quake-hit school set to reopen

A school rebuilt by the people of Edinburgh is set to open on the third anniversary of the earthquake which destroyed much of the region.

In October 2005, the massive quake killed 75,000 in the country’s north-western province, destroying entire villages and hundreds of key buildings.

But thanks to a fund raising campaign in the Capital, around £25,000 was raised and the school in the village of Kohley, in the Siran Valley, was rebuilt.

Three years on, the building will be officially opened next Wednesday.  Read more... (320 words, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

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Foundation layed for New Balakot

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf presided on Monday over a ceremony to mark the beginning of construction of a new town to replace one almost completely destroyed in a 2005 earthquake.

The northern town of Balakot suffered the most severe damage in the Oct. 8, 2005, earthquake that killed 73,000 people in Pakistan. Rather then rebuilding it on two fault lines, authorities are moving the town to a site 22 km (15 miles) away.

“Balakot has been totally destroyed and devastated. Now an excellent and properly designed town will be built in place of Balakot,” Musharraf said in a speech at the site of New Balakot.  Read more... (288 words, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)

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2,000 Muzaffarabad buildings to be razed

The Muzaffarabad Municipal Corporation has initiated a project to demolish around 2,000 precarious private buildings in the quake-hit city.

“From today, we have kick-started the project, which, in fact lays, the basis of reconstruction in this town,” said the corporation’s Administrator Arshad Mahmood Abbasi at a news conference here on Saturday.

The project has two components: demolition of dangerous buildings and removal of their debris at a cost of Rs 210 million and augmentation of the civic body’s capacity through purchase of equipment and recruitment of around 35 staff.  Read more... (447 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

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Quake-hit people desperate for shelters, medicines

Survivors of the Oct 2005 earthquake in Balakot are facing extreme hardships due to the freezing temperature in the area. They are living through the hardest days and looking for a miracle to end their miseries, said journalist Shahjehan Khan, who still lives in a damaged tent in the town.

The number of patients has increased due to the inclement weather conditions.

There is one hospital in the town constructed by the Paktel company, but the patients remain unattended due to the absence of doctors and paramedical staff.  Read more... (559 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

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Prince Charles and Camilla Parker visits earthquake affected areas

Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla met survivors of last year’s devastating earthquake during a visit to the mountains of Azad Kashmir on Wednesday.

The couple, on their first trip to Pakistan amid tight security, toured reconstruction projects in Pattika, a small town in the Neelam Valley near the epicentre of the October 2005 quake that killed some 74,000 people.

“Our sympathies are with you,” reporters overheard Charles telling one of the residents they met on their three-hour trip. Most of the projects in the town are UK-funded.  Read more... (350 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

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U.S. to train 30,000 teachers in Pakistani quake areas

The United States will train 30,000 teachers and build 50 schools in quake affected areas of Pakistan, the U.S ambassador said on Sunday, the first anniversary of an earthquake that killed 73,000 people.

Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker made the announcement during the inauguration by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz of the first school built by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Dadar village in North West Frontier Province.

“The school buildings are the hardware and they have to have the software to go with it and that means the teachers,” Crocker said while announcing plans to build 50 schools and train 30,000 teachers in Frontier province and Pakistani Kashmir.  Read more... (288 words, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)

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Quake survivors stage anti-graft protest

Hundreds of survivors of last year’s earthquake in Pakistan staged an anti-graft protest in the capital on Saturday, accusing reconstruction officials of corruption.

Waving placards reading “Stop taking bribes”, “Spend the winter with us” and “Build our homes before snowfall”, the demonstrators marched from parliament to the office of the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (Erra).

The protest came a day before the first anniversary of the earthquake. “For the past four and a half months, I have received not a single penny,” said Gohar Rehman, a father of five who had come from Muzaffarabad.  Read more... (290 words, estimated 1:10 mins reading time)

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