Winter threatens survivors a yr after Kashmir quake

Pakistani Kashmiri quake survivors sit outside their tent in Muzaffarabad, the quake-devastated capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir on Saturday. A year after a catastrophic earthquake ripped through South Asia, up to 60,000 survivors face another winter in tents despite some progress in rebuilding the shattered region. PHOTO: AFP

In parts of scenic northwestern Pakistan and Kashmir fallen minarets still lie on piles of rubble, flimsy tin shacks serve as schools and hospitals and angry quake victims protest about the pace of reconstruction.

Most of the survivors who are expected to attend memorial services for the more than 74,000 people who died on October 8, 2005, will have no permanent houses to go back to afterwards.

"We have been in this tent for almost a year, life has been so hard. Please pray for me," wept grandmother Zeinab Bibi, 60, in Muzaffarabad, the devastated capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

The United Nations warns it will take 10 years to recover from the 7.6-magnitude quake, which left 3.5 million people homeless, sheared off mile-high mountainsides and swept whole villages into foaming rivers.

A global relief effort led by the Pakistani and Indian armies also involved Islamic Kashmiri militants and dozens of helicopters from around the world to keep survivors alive through the winter last year.

Twelve months later, officials claim that reconstruction work on the 600,000 homes, 8,000 schools and 350 hospitals destroyed by the temblor is well underway, funded by international pledges of nearly six billion dollars.