Bawtry Evangelical Free Church
Into the Earthquake Zone
It was the 29th day of November 2005 when I flew off to Islamabad with four other Irish lads to take part in a project that was to forever embed graphic images in our minds. We went to build shelters for those who had lost everything in the biggest quake to hit the region in over one hundred years.The region lies on one of the most volatile fault lines in the world. (See map) They regularly get minor tremors but nothing like the ‘vertical earthquake’ that struck, lifting the ground up to 6 feet in the air. Survivors spoke of it being like standing on a sponge mattress that was being punched from underneath.
Roofs collapsed in schools, homes, businesses and hotels in seconds. It was 09:22am women were in the homes, children had just begun their lessons and were settling down to what seemed like any other day.
Balakot is a name that has become synonymous with a cataclysmic event. Forty five per cent of the 35,000 people died almost instantly in the disaster; seventy per cent of the children in the town died.
The area of old Balakot has been designated a mass grave, with an estimated 6000 bodies lying under the mass of concrete and twisted iron.
However the area was well catered for so we went to the villages of Lower and Upper Jabbah, Galle and Shiree (8500 feet) where no other NGO were working. It lies between 1500 and 4500 feet above Balakot and the only access is by mule.
Everything in these villages is flattened.
Nobody stood a chance. One school in Galle lost 170 pupils out of its 350. School bags and mangled desks are the only evidence that there was a school, save for a green welcome sign lying where the school entrance once stood.We met one man, Shajid, who lost 75 members of his extended family.
The task set for our little cluster group of Irishmen, was to construct Swiss designed shelters for families that required them most. Before we arrived, the area had been surveyed to ascertain who was who, perceived needs (medical, shelter) and previously unknown information about the villages themselves.
Each dot shows the centre of an earthquake on the Arabian Fault line