Pak group helps disabled quake victims find hope

The first anniversary of the quake is today, but the young woman remains too self-conscious to go back to school in a wheelchair, so she stays home with her parents.

"I am scared what people will say. I can't get out of this wheelchair now for life," says Rozina, who was dug out from the rubble of her home in Balakot, in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, one of the towns hit hardest by the disaster.

The government said more than 700 people suffered serious spinal injuries resulting in partial or complete paralysis.

Milestone, a private Pakistani aid agency affiliated to Disabled Persons International, says the number is more than three times higher at around 2,500.

It also estimates about 15,000 persons suffered amputations due to injuries suffered in the quake.

Asim Zafar, Rozina's counsellor from Milestone, is himself a paraplegic, and wheelchair bound. He tells Rozina that if she can overcome her fears then she can become less dependent on others and find a useful role in life.

But not everyone who has suffered such horrific injuries is willing to listen.

Gulnaaz Bibi, a mother of five from Katchbilli village near Balakot, has so far refused to be moved from her bed to use the wheelchair provided.

But Nadia Bibi, 27, shows Milestone isn't spreading false hopes.

She was six months' pregnant when a falling rock broke her back at her home in the mountain village of Ganool, near Balakot.

Paralysed from the waist down, the muscles on her legs have wasted away, but she gave birth to a healthy baby girl, who she now tends for herself.

"She is a fighter and I am proud of her, though she has suffered so much at a young age," her father-in-law, Malik Farzaman, said.

With the help of other international relief agencies, Milestone has distributed about 1,500 wheelchairs in Mansehra district. Nadia is the latest beneficiary.

"I feel more comfortable in my old wheelchair," she protested meekly but was finally shifted to her new sleek one in her in-law's quake-damaged home.

Umer Farooq, a health programme coordinator with the U.S. based Mercy Corps, said one of the biggest problems for people who suffered severe spinal injuries was passing urine and stools. Without proper help and hygiene, they will get bed sores.

"It is a psychological problem for them and puts a burden on their families who don't know how to deal with them," he said.

Zafar said there were hundreds of people in hospitals in Islamabad and Abbottabad who were not getting enough help, counselling, or resources to adapt to their disability.

Milestone plans to set up centres in the quake zone so that severely disabled people can support each other and earn a livelihood.