06-11-2006, 06:17 AM
PAKISTAN: Life returns to Allai villages eight months after quake
31 May 2006 09:49:02 GMT
Source: IRIN
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BANA, 31 May (IRIN) - The towering mountains of Allai, in northern Pakistan's Battagram district, no longer look as threatening as they did seven months ago.
In some places, fresh new growth has sprung up to cover cracks in the hillsides, caused by last October's devastating regional earthquake. In others, cherry blossoms bloom brightly and the terraces carved into the steep hillsides are furrowed and ploughed.
A short distance outside Bana, the largest town in Allai district, Nazira, six, keeps a watchful eye on her flock of frisky goats. She points to a tiny settlement up the hillside when asked where she lives. "We came home about a month ago."
Nazira and her family spent the winter at Meira camp in Battagram â the largest tent settlement to spring up after the quake in North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The family had not initially wanted to leave their village, but did so under heavy pressure from the Pakistani military, and due to fears of what they might have faced over the winter without shelter.
"They told us we would starve if we stayed up here," Nazira's father, Abdul Khan, said. "I did not want to leave, but I could not risk the death of my family," he explained.
Allai is among the most remote and inaccessible of quake-affected areas in the region. Soon after the devastating quake that killed at least 80,000 people, the Pakistani army expressed fears that the 150,000 people in Allai would be at risk if they spent the winter in the mountains. But people were reluctant to leave, anxious to safeguard land, livestock, homes and items of property left behind after the quake.
In the end, around 21,000 people went to Meira camp, located along the Indus River. Most have now returned with the advent of summer, glad to be in the crisp, cool air of the hills.
"It was getting unbearable at Meira as the heat came. In fact we had felt claustrophobic all along, in a tiny, closed tent, because we are used to open spaces. Now we are glad to be back, although we still live in a tent near our fallen home," said Abdul Khan, as he turned to help his daughter round up a kid that had ventured some distance away.
Those who chose to stay and brave the harsh Himalayan winter are glad to see their neighbours return. Rehmat Azam, 26, from the village of Ner further up the Allai valley, has come to Bana with his friend, Zareef Khan, 24, to help him buy material to rebuild Zareef's home. Rehmat and his family chose to stay in the mountains over the cold months, even though they had only a small, hastily built shack to shelter them.
"God was merciful. It was not a very hard winter, but we would have survived anyway," Rehmat told IRIN, adding: "We are strong people. We know how to look after ourselves."
This toughness, stemming from an isolated life in often treacherous mountains, and a fierce independence, characterise the people of Allai. Today many seem almost glad that the relief workers, NGOs and the military presence on their land has fallen drastically, leaving them to get on with their lives. "These people really helped us when things were bad. But now we need to get back to business and rebuild what we had before," said Rehmat.
He and Zareef, friends since childhood, plan to help each other construct new homes, the skeletons of which, they say, are already standing. Zareef has taken a course on 'quake-safe construction' at Meira camp, organised by the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), a Christian charity.
In the bazaars of Bana too, life seems to be getting back to normal, as people buy the essentials of daily life. Talk focuses on what the coming harvest of wheat and maize will yield, with the loss of land, seed, draught animals, terracing and retaining walls all taking a toll.
Many things remain the same, the hardships that Allai lived with before the quake are also still in place. Women walk long distances to fetch water from springs, less than six percent of the female population is literate, many girls remain out of school and landslides or rock falls frequently block roads.