Family members, friends gather at Margalla Towers to remember earthquake victims

Eight years on, three children yet to find their father’s body.

ISLAMABAD:

The eighth anniversary of the devastating 2005 earthquake was observed on Tuesday outside the half-destroyed Margalla Towers building, where people gathered to honour the memory of those who lost their lives on that fateful day.

People gathered at 8:50am at the Margalla Towers, dubbed Ground Zero and observed a minute of silence for the earthquake victims. In the evening, they lit candles and placed floral wreaths, afffixing cards and messages to a monument erected with the names of those who died. To express solidarity, students of Preston University were carrying banners inscribed with, “We share the pain of bereaved families.”

Families and relatives of the earthquake victims were seen sharing painful stories with each other and their life after the tragic collapse of  Margalla Towers, which claimed 70 lives and injured around a hundred.

Among the mourners was Rubina Shafiq, who has still not been able to find the body of her close family friend, Ahsan Monis, 60, who was living with his daughter and wife Tahira on the second floor when the earthquake brought down one of the buildings of the apartment complex.

“It has been almost eight years and we are yet to find closure. For months we used to visit the building and spend days and nights sitting on the rubble hoping to find his body. But with the passage of time, all our hopes were shattered,” said Shafiq, while talking to The Express Tribune. Monis’ daughter left the building ten minutes before the earthquake struck and two of his sons were residing in other cities, but the kids unfortunately lost both their parents. “The mother’s body was taken to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences but none of us knew that. Later, the media showed the belongings of people who lost their lives and from there we recognised her trademark bangles.” She said even though time slowly heals everything but the children cannot move on till they have seen their father’s body. They say if he’s dead, we want to bury him with our own hands.

A former resident, requesting anonymity, said, “I lost four family members that day. My punishment in life is that I survived,” he said. He said the tragedy struck when his ten-year-old daughter asked him to get strawberry jam from the market. “I went to get it for her but she was under the rubble when I came back after the earthquake struck. I recognised her from one of her favorite stuffed toys lying near her,” he said, fighting back tears.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2013.