Rawalpindi : Eighteen years have gone by but still majority of the population at least in the northern part of Pakistan would be unable to wipe out images of the day on October 8, 2005 from their memories that brought the worst ever disaster in the areas stretching from Balakot to Battagram to Muzaffarabad in the northern part of the country and AJK through a violent shaking of the earth’s surface.
The earthquake on October 8, 2005, killing well over 73000 people and leaving not less than 128,000 people injured in the northern region of the country and AJK, affected directly not less than 200,000 families. It was Saturday when the earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale jolted the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi at around 08:52 a.m. causing a huge damage to the population in the towns of Balakot, Battagram, Muzaffarabad and a number of adjoining areas.
People who were affected directly and suffer physical losses by the violent shaking of the earth’s crust on October 8, 2005 may not be able to forget the disaster ever, the day brought with it. It was the day when the landline phones left working and the mobile phone service was almost of no use due to the heaviest load on the networks at least for five hours after nine in the morning as the consumers were dialling again and again numbers to know the fortunes of their relatives in the aftermath of the earthquake. The October 8 earthquake, considered as the worst ever disaster in the region over a hundred years of history, wiped out a number of towns and villages completely from the face of the earth in the northern part of the country. It damaged almost the whole infrastructure in the affected areas including Bagh, Rawlakot and Muzaffarabad in AJK and Balakot and Kaghan valley along with a number of other towns in the northern mountainous range of the country.
The population in the affected areas including the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi had to observe hundreds of aftershocks for weeks after October 8, 2005. Within twenty days after the earthquake, the affected areas had witnessed over 1000 aftershocks having magnitudes of 4.0 and above on the Richter scale. The day exposed the government’s incapability of dealing with like disasters, at least at that time. What an irony, it is, that the rehabilitation process in one or the other way is still in progress in the affected areas. It was, however, no other but the public that responded first to the event and countless relief camps were set up by representatives from among the general public on the same day, October 8, 2005 in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi along with other parts of the country.
The earthquake in 2005 exposed the incapability of the health sector proving the existing health infrastructure at that time a failure. After the earthquake, however, the health departments took serious measures to implement disaster management plans in almost all teaching hospitals enabling almost every hospital to deal with over 250 emergency cases in case of a disaster as is being claimed.
On October 8, 2005, the hospitals from Rawalpindi to Jhelum and even up to Sialkot and Sargodha received a huge burden of critically injured victims. The three teaching hospitals in town including Benazir Bhutto Hospital, District Headquarters Hospital and Holy Family Hospital received well over 700 earthquake victims just within 24 hours after the earthquake. The influx of victims reaching these hospitals from the worst affected areas did not lower for nearly two months.
Once again, it was the general public that donated much to the hospitals for facilitating earthquake victims. Out of a total of over 5550 quake survivors who reached the allied hospitals, the BBH received 2562, the DHQ received 975 while 2015 were reported to have reached the HFH. Only the number of major surgeries including complex surgeries involving compound fractures (fractures with open wounds) and plastic surgeries performed at the three teaching hospitals crossed the figure of 2000. Also almost all provincial set ups along with provincial and international organizations organized the makeshift hospitals in the affected areas. It was all donations from the general public and NGOs that helped hospitals to treat unfortunate victims. From manpower – doctors, staff nurses, physiotherapists and psycho-sociologists – to rehabilitation equipment, medicines and kitchen services at the hospitals were provided by the general public and NGOs. However the major chunk of donations was made by the general public as reported.