‘I was crying for help but no one could hear me’

For Ali, Monday’s earthquake ripped apart his family, taking the life of his daughter

PESHAWAR: Abdul Ali and his ten-year-old son Muhammad Shoaib, residents of Talash, Lower Dir, were amongst the many survivors shifted to Lady Reading Hospital for medical attention after Monday’s earthquake.

“I thought everyone was deaf; I was crying for help but no one could hear me,” said Ali as he recalled the moments immediately after the seismic activity hit Lower Dir. “Everyone was running away from the mountain.”



He and his family were en route to Dargai for a visit to his parents’ house.

The fight for survival

“The vehicle suddenly went out of control and fell into a ravine on Chinaruna Road,” said Ali. He cried for help but with everyone in a state of panic, he had to drag his family members out of the car himself.

“I was searching for my elder son, Shoaib, but I couldn’t see him inside the car,” recalled Ali. “I was worried and shouted for help at the top of my lungs but again, no one responded,” he said.



“Then my younger son spotted Shoaib 40 yards away from the car.”

But the worst had already happened, Ali’s two-year-old daughter, Marwa, died on the spot.

The surviving family members were rushed to a hospital in Batkhela. Medical staff advised Ali and Shoaib to go to LRH since they had sustained more serious injuries. And so they did, leaving behind Ali’s younger son and wife at the local facility. And en route to Peshawar, Ali’s mobile phone was swiped by a local who travelled with them in the ambulance from Batkhela to LRH.



“Doctors say Shoaib will have to go through some more tests since he sustained head injuries,” said the worried father. Ali was discharged after receiving medical aid at the orthopaedic ward.

In other lives

“He was playing with his friends as they grazed cattle in the hills when he was hit by a sliding rock that split his right hand into two pieces and fractured both his legs,” said Taj Muhammad, the uncle of 13-year-old Rizwanullah.

Also a resident of Lower Dir, Rizwanullah was playing with his brother and cousin in the nearby mountains when rocks and boulders started sliding down the mountain after the earthquake. “They had no time to escape and snowfall earlier this season made the terrain very slippery,” said the uncle. He added the other two children sustained minor injuries but Rizwanullah was rushed to LRH late Monday night.



Tallying impact

Malakand Division and surrounding areas adjacent to the Pakistan-Afghan border are amongst the worst hit regions. According to PDMA data released on Wednesday, at least 24 people died in Lower Dir as a result of the earthquake. At least 17 died in Upper Dir, nine in Buner, 32 in Chitral, two in Malakand district, 49 in Shangla and 34 in Swat.

With patients pouring into LRH from the outskirts as well as the provincial capital, 40 students from Rehman Medical College were certified to provide voluntary services. All volunteer students belonged to the Bachelor of Science Nursing Program at Rehman Medical College in the provincial capital.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2015.