Quack

Today I finished my tour of the quack hit areas. A line of mountains from Oghi (Manshera) to Balakot, North of Muzaffarabad up to Bagh has slipped at various places. It appears that the shock wave was most intense on this line and entire villages have been buried in dry mud/stone slides. This line of ridges is most distinct by white cuttings all along the fault line. Two mountain ranges near Oghi have collapsed and fuse, burying the entire valley.

Comparatively, Muzaffarabad has suffered less damage. About 40% buildings are still standing, half of them with serious cracks. Wherever the structural engineering has been good, buildings even on the immediate fault are left unscathed, like the Srinagar bus terminal, Special Communication Organization’s building and the Caltex Petrol pump. Much of the destruction in Muzaffarabad is due to faulty structural engineering. At places private three story buildings stand unharmed amidst total destruction.

Balakot presents a scenario of a nuclear winter. Not a house is left standing. Unlike Muzafarabad which was a major military cantonment and was reached immediately, Balakot is remote on the Karakoram Highway and could only be reached by a small maintenance crew of the Frontier Works Organization. It has also attracted fewer VIPs and rescue parties, though it has suffered the most.

Bagh has suffered badly and flattened like Balakot. The army there has suffered very high casualties. Just yesterday, a rescue helicopter crashed due to bad weather.

Down country, the frenzy to reach out to the destruction zones is manifested by a long line of loaded trucks and volunteers towards Muzaffarabad. It is not so intense in case of Balakot. However, this frenzy and zeal is not compensated by the locals, who sit on the roadsides, keep watching and looking forward to aid. Invariably I saw foreigners particularly from Malaysia, Singapore and Holland digging into rubble along with volunteers from down country and soldiers. I never saw a single local trying to assist in relief work. The local civil administration appears to be on leave. The administration of the city by default has landed in the hands of the army and rangers. There have been announcements in the city calling elected representatives back to duty and organize relief efforts in their constituencies. On the flip side, I saw a colonel of the army organizing relief efforts. I was told that he lost two children in the disaster. Moreover, locals have done nothing to repair minor damages to their houses. Perhaps it has something to do with the compensation claims.

Muzaffarabad is overflowing with aid and congested. The Russian, Dutch, German and Iranian hospitals have moved up north and the US and German cargo choppers are doing a splendid job.

The weather is chilly and distant mountains have already received heavy snowfalls. The scale of misery is likely to aggravate. According to doctors in PIMS, 15% patients have to get their limbs amputated due to gangrene.

Cheerios