Fri May 18, 2012
Anjum Naveed - AP Images
Having lost everything in the 2005 earthquake these Kashmiri children lived in a refugee camp in Pakistan
Dealing with the After-Shocks
By Musavirr Wani & Rebecca Nazir, Kashmir – January 2010
I will never forget October 8, 2005 when a powerful force from deep beneath my home jolted me out of bed. Loud rumblings, not unlike that of a train, rattled throughout my home. When I looked up my ceiling fan started to dance away from its hinges. An earthquake, registering 7.6 on the Richter scale had struck Uri (near the Line of Control near the Indian controlled side of Kashmir) and parts of Pakistan.
It happened during the holy month of Ramadan – a month of fasting and reverence for Muslims. And even as the earth was rippling under my feet I left my home and went into my garden where I bowed before Allah for his mercy. The trees shook in from their roots and I heard screaming all around me as people ran for their lives into the open fields.
If you have never experienced a disaster of this magnitude it is difficult to fully appreciate the chaos, fear and suffering that accompanies it. Indeed, for an entire year after the earthquake struck it was as though I could still feel its tremors beneath my feet. Even four years later, when I heard the news that an earthquake had hit Haiti (1/13/10) terror went through my body as I too easily remembered what I had experienced.
I know the desperation the Haitian people are feeling right now – trying to track down loved ones. I can hear their screams for help even as they lie on the ground utterly helpless. I feel their gut-wrenching pain as they mourn the death of their children, their brothers and sisters, their fathers and mothers. I know the smell of death that is permeating the air.
But the trauma for the Haitian people is just beginning. For the longest time my family tried hard to cope with the aftershocks of the quake. After-shocks are a frequent reminder of the doomsday-like experience earthquakes deliver. We tried to maintain perspective by convincing ourselves that the aftershocks were not as deadly as the main quake that killed more than 70,000 people.
The earthquake that hit Haiti was as powerful as the one that struck Uri and it is thought that more than 200,000 people have been killed there. Proper interventions are needed immediately so diseases don’t spread.
But it is the unseen emotional scars – the fears that another doomsday quake might hit that are not so easily remedied. Still four years after our quake, 65 percent of families living near its epicenter and those living in adjacent villages suffer from a myriad of psychiatric and gastric problems – most of them youngsters.
“Almost every one of us takes anti-anxiety drugs here – ladies, men, even children,” said Shahzad who lives in Salamabad – an area where the quake hit. “My nephews Zahid cannot sleep alone even with the prescribed drug the doctor provided him.”
Dr. Mushtaq Margoob, a renowned psychiatrist in Kashmir refers to this suffering as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). “Actually people are not getting proper care [to deal with] the shock which has totally changed their world. There is emerging evidence that the loss to the individuals and the destruction of the community are inter-connected – with the worst outcome in people who lived in communities where there was severe destruction and people suffered severe personal losses.”
Just a few months ago a team of public health specialists was sent to Uri to assess the progress and implement public health measures if needed. Their findings were published in an article, Epidemiological and Environmental Investigation in Tangdar Block (Kupwara district) and Uri Tehsil (Baramulla district) and revealed that overcrowding, poor sanitation, open-air defecation, poor hygiene, and living in makeshift camps near streams led to an outbreak of rotavirus gastroenteritis that was passed from person-to-person.
Tap, stream or spring water that hadn’t undergone a process of chlorination or been boiled still caused acute diarrheal disease, which explained why 20% of children under four years of age still suffered from diarrheal disease.
Yet the report also showed that in areas where medical camps were established and information regarding the need to drink boiled water and follow safer hygienic practices was communicated, the outbreak was brought under control. Nonetheless, widespread contamination of drinking water sources still exists.
The importance of getting proper relief in the initial days after the quake cannot be underestimated. Our immediate needs included shelter, food and heat because the region where the earthquake struck is mountainous and winters are very harsh. We needed to re-establish infrastructure so relief efforts could get in to help the survivors.
While religion and nationalism plays a role in our daily life, guns were put aside and everyone received help no matter paid to their religion, ethnicity or nationalism. There was a worldwide effort to help the survivors and the Kashmir Indian Air force in particular played an important role. Choppers were continuously distributing relief and those severely injured were taken to city hospitals for treatment.
The dead – whether they were Pakistani or Indian – were buried in mass graves – although in Uri people belonging to particular family were buried in one grave. I still remember a grave a where 12 members of a family are buried.
But like us, the world needs to commit to the seriousness in Haiti for a very long time. Once the cameras leave and the painstaking images of people suffering disappear Haiti, people will need help. The attention cannot be temporary – people simply cannot forget that the rebuilding and the caring for the physical and mental wounds do not go away with the end of the news coverage.
The Haitians, like us will also need to learn a lot from their experience. We now know that places like Srinagar are vulnerable to earthquakes as they are situated in Seismic Zone-V. We have come to realize that we cannot panic. There are many parts of the world like Japan where earthquakes occur frequently but loss of life and damage to property is small because people have learned to live with earthquakes.
In Japan there are earthquake safe buildings and the Japanese practice certain Do’s and Don’ts in dealing with such natural disasters. By identifying hazards, we can set priorities for using our resources most effectively to reduce damage. In this way we can drastically reduce the loss of life and property. The choice is ours.
Do’s and Don’ts
What to do during an earthquake
1. If you are indoors, duck or drop down to the floor. Take cover under a sturdy desk, table or other furniture. Hold on to it and be prepared to move with it. Stay in this position until the ground stops shaking and it is safe to move.
2. Stay clear of windows, fireplaces, woodstoves, and heavy furniture or appliances that may fall. Stay inside to avoid being injured by falling glass or building parts. If you are in a crowded area, take cover. Stay calm and encourage others to do likewise.
3. Never use the lifts.
4. If you are outside, move away from buildings and power lines and get into open spaces. Stay away from buildings, especially old, tall or detached buildings, electricity wires, slopes and walls, which are liable to collapse.
5. If you are driving, stop if it is safe, but stay inside your car. Stay away from bridges, flyovers and tunnels. Move your car as far out of the normal traffic pattern as possible and park on the roadside. Avoid stopping under trees, light posts or power lines.
6. If you are in a mountainous area, or near unstable slopes or cliffs, be alert for falling rock and other debris that could be loosened by the earthquake.
What to do after an earthquake?
1. Do not panic – it is essential to keep calm. Switch on a transistor radio and obey any instructions you hear.
2. Expect aftershocks.
3. Turn off the water, gas and electricity in your homes and offices. Do not smoke and do not light matches or use a cigarette lighter. Do not turn on electric switches. There may be gas leaks or short-circuits. Use a flashlight.
4. If there is a fire, try to put it out – if you cannot, call (if you can) the fire department.
5. If people are seriously injured, do not move them unless they are in danger. If you know that people have been buried, tell the rescue teams.
6. Do not touch metal objects and avoid places where there are loose electric wires.
7. Do not drink water from open containers without filtering it through a sieve, a filter or an ordinary clean cloth.
8. If your home is badly damaged you will have to leave it. Do not re-enter badly damaged buildings and do not go near damaged structures. Do not walk around the streets to see what has happened. Keep clear of the streets to enable rescue vehicles to pass.
Leave a Reply
world headlines
U.S. headlines
editorial headlines
