By Sarwar Kashani, IANS
Uri : Two years after a devastating quake hit Kashmir, the survivors are still trying to piece together their lives amid accusations of the government’s sloppy rehabilitation process.
“Nearly 60 percent of relief distribution in the Baramulla, Rafiabad and Kupwara areas of north Kashmir is still pending,” said Abdul Qayoom, a resident of Baramulla whose house was completely damaged. “In Uri many survivors have not still received the basic amount.”
The state government initially gave Rs. 30,000 to every family rendered homeless and promised them Rs. 100,000 more in three instalments.
Accusing officials of bungling, quake survivors say that the first and second instalment of the Rs. 100,000 has been distributed, but the third is yet to come.
On Oct 8, 2005, an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale with its epicentre in Muzaffarabad town of Pakistan-administered Kashmir hit the region, leaving over 55,000 people dead in Pakistani Kashmir and nearly 1,400 dead in Jammu and Kashmir state. Millions were also rendered homeless in the worst affected areas of Uri, Tangdhar and Karnah near the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
Mehnaz Jan, 21, who lost all her relations to the deadly temblor, narrated her ordeal to IANS: “I lost everything, my parents, my house… and life is now nothing more than pain and agony.”
Mehnaz lives with her nephew Alam, 8, in a makeshift house – a wooden shed – in this border village, 100 km north of Srinagar.
“I can still feel the earth shaking beneath our feet. I remember that morning – mountains were moving and our house began crumbling – and my parents and my only brother Altaf was crushed under the debris,” recalls Mehnaz.
Though unable to shake off the trauma, Mehnaz has not given up on life. “I am alone, but am learning to live with the fact because I want to live.”
“As far as government assistance is concerned it was never sufficient,” she says.
In the quake-hit areas, hundreds of plinth structures have come up in the name of reconstruction, particularly in Uri where people are still living in tin or wooden dwellings.
“Although the reconstruction of houses is going on with over 65 percent permanent constructions completed, the poorer people are struggling to improve their semi-permanent shelters,” says a report by ActionAid International that has been working for the rehabilitation of survivors.
Most of the compensation money received by affected families from the government has been used to fund basic amenities like food and healthcare.
However, officials claim over 70 percent of the reconstruction is already in place.
A sub-district magistrate told IANS here that since the reconstruction is taking place in patches, “little seems to have happened on the ground”.
Shelter is not the only concern.
The nightmare of Oct 8 continues to affect the survivors, particularly children, many of whom have shown symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Doctors are worried about the psychological impact of the trauma on the children.
Experts studying the behavioural pattern of children with PTSD say they exhibit symptoms of loss of appetite, sleeplessness and lack of willpower – which is also common among many of the adults in the quake-hit areas.
“PTSD, schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD) are found mostly in people who have lost their family members or are in acute poverty,” said Shabana, a mental health officer working with ActionAid that has also been holding counselling sessions along with government health centres in the quake-affected areas.
A senior district medical officer claims that even though children in these areas have started coming out of PTSD, parents of some children complain that the problem persists.
ActionAid says the positive results of counselling are beginning to show, but it will take some more time for them to recuperate fully.