Under the debris: Seventy-year-old Mina fights Shangla’s cold winter in a tent

One-bedroom house destroyed in October 26 earthquake

SHANGLA: After living 40 years as a widow in a one-room house in Gumrish, Chakesar, the earthquake that shook the country on October 26 deprived 70-year-old Gul Mina of the only abode she had. Gumrish village is located on a mountain around 7,000 feet above sea level on the outskirts of Chakesar tehsil in Shangla.

Mina said she was 26 when her parents wedded her to a man from her village, Gul Sadbar. Four years into the wedding, her husband died. “I do not have any children and my parents also died many, many years ago,” she said.



Mina told The Express Tribune she has only one brother who lived in a village far away from hers. “My brother and his children visit me occasionally,” she said, adding there is, as such, no one to look after her.

She said though her house comprised only one room, it had everything she needed. She used that very room as her kitchen as well. Mina has a cow and two goats, and uses their milk and other homemade dairy products to feed herself. She works in the fields as a daily wage labourer, but most of the time, she is paid in the form of grains or other commodities instead of money.

The earthquake spared no house in Gumrish; almost all of them were destroyed. Mina said her one-room house was also destroyed – a house she has no money to rebuild. “But my cattle remained safe as I had tied them outside the house,” she said.

Mina recalled she was working in one of the fields along with other women on October 26 when the quake struck the area. “We started reciting kalimas and other sacred verses,” she said, adding they were frightened as they watched a massive cloud of dust rise up during the earthquake. “We were in shock and felt clueless about what was happening at the time,” Mina said.

“I live in a tent now and it is miserable, to say the least,” she said, adding the cold weather in Shangla makes it very difficult to live in a flimsy shelter. “We need proper housing, winter clothes and other accessories to keep warm.” She said the political leadership needs to do more than just visit and talk to people during election days. “They have not visited the quake victims who are living in the tents or under the open sky after the tremor hit the region and destroyed our homes,” she said.



“All my grain, flour, household utensils and other important things are buried under the rubble that used to be my house once,” she said. “My neighbours have helped me recover some essential goods from under the debris but I have received no help from the government.”

Mina added, “We have no hospitals, no electricity and no basic facilities in the area.” She said people are moving to other parts of the district to access the necessities, but since she has no one to help her, she cannot move around.

Spiral of misery

Mina is not alone in her misery. The month after the quake, temperatures plummeted and sent another wave of affliction and trauma over residents of all ages living in affected areas of the district.

Initial rain turned into extreme cold winds, and the persistent dry spell has led to an outbreak of asthma, influenza, pneumonia, allergies and skin diseases. Victims, who can, throng to the local hospital for treatment but absence of doctors and specialists compels them to travel to far-flung areas for medical treatment.

Talking to The Express Tribune, some of the survivors said the government failed to provide proper relief or compensation, and a majority of families fear the cold and viral diseases might lead to more deaths if steps were not taken immediately.

Shangla was hit badly by the 7.5-magnitude temblor. The preliminary death count in the district alone swelled to 49, while several were reported injured, mostly caught under the falling debris and some in landslides.

Worse to come

The meteorological department has predicted rains and snowfall for the district. Sana Azhar, a social worker from the area, said life in such circumstances is very difficult, especially for the elderly and those with a vulnerable immune system. She said the cold weather makes it difficult to withstand problems caused by old age.

Azhar pressed upon the government and other social institutions to arrange for shelter, warm clothes and other relief items for the earthquake victims, especially those belonging to Mina’s age group.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2015.