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 » Where the quake hit  |  2005 major quakes  |  Quake magnitudes

Quake survivors return to the mountains

From Anjali Kwatra for CNN

Survivors of last year's South Asia earthquake are faced with returning to their devastated mountain villages as emergency tent camps close. Anjali Kwatra, a journalist with Christian Aid contributed this story for CNN.com from the affected area.

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Mohammed Mushtaq and family sit outside a shelter in Pakistan's Budehara village.

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Pakistan
Kashmir and Jammu (India)
Disasters (General)
India

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan -- Farmer Mohammed Noor did not just lose his house when the earthquake struck. Every acre of his farmland, which had been in his family for generations, slid down the mountain in minutes.

Carrying the few possessions they had left, Noor, 55, his wife and four daughters trekked for three days before finding help in a tent camp near Islamabad.

Like other survivors of the disaster, which killed 73,000 people, the family have got used to life in the camp, which is run by local and international aid agencies. They get two meals a day and a hospital, school and computer training center are just around the corner.

But Noor and his family will soon be forced to head back to the mountains. The government has decided to close the camps by the end of March when the worst of the winter will be over.

No shelter

Many do not want to leave the camps because of the schools and medical services which they do not have in their villages. Aid agencies are worried what people will do without proper shelter or a way of earning a living.

"We cannot go back home because my land is destroyed," Noor said. "We have no food, no fuel and no shelter so why would we go back? If the camp is closing, we will have no choice, but I don't know how we will survive."

The army says it understands the concerns of those who live in the camps and will try to be flexible about the closures but that it wants people to return home.

Muhammad Raashid, from Islamic Relief in Pakistan, acknowledges the difficulties the authorities are facing.

"On one hand it seems wrong to make people leave the camps. But in reality, people will only recover from this disaster if they get back to their normal lives as soon as possible.

"Islamic Relief never encouraged people to leave their villages. The camps are very crowded, people have no privacy and there is a risk they can become dependent on the aid. But we have to ensure that people are able to return with the support they need."

Trapped by rubble

For some of the three million people left homeless, life is getting a little easier, even if their grief has not subsided.

Mohammed Mushtaq's wife and daughter-in-law were killed instantly in a landslide triggered by the October 8 earthquake. His 18-year-old daughter Gulshan died six hours later, clutching his hand as she lay trapped by rubble.

Throughout the harsh winter Mushtaq and his three sons have lived in a tent in their village of Budehara in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

This week they will move into a temporary shelter made of wood and corrugated iron provided by Islamic Relief and funded by UK charity Christian Aid.

"At least now we will have somewhere better to live. It is not a proper house, but it will give us something to call home," he said.

Islamic Relief, which received $613,000 from Christian Aidexternal link has so far helped around 340,000 people in Kashmir with food, shelter, medical aid, water and sanitation.

Their priority now is to build temporary shelters that are strong and sturdy enough to last through next winter.

'Inadequate cash'

The construction of earthquake resistant homes will begin in April, after the snow has melted, but the experience of previous disasters such as the tsunami, has shown it will be impossible to rebuild the 400,000 houses needed before the start of next winter.

The government is providing each family that lost their home with 175,000 rupees($2,900), but many feel this is inadequate.

"That money will not be enough for us to build a house to replace our old one," Mushtaq said. "We will have to find another way."

As well as supporting Islamic Relief -- a fellow Disasters Emergency Committee member - Christian Aid has given £1.1 million to Church World Service (CWS) which has helped around 500,000 people with food, tents and other vital equipment, as well as working on water and sanitation and counseling.

By July Christian Aid will have spent more than £2 million in Pakistan and India helping people rebuild their lives after the earthquake. In addition, Christian Aid has helped obtain another £1 million from the Department for International Development for CWS's relief work.

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