Srinagar, Oct 08: A year after a major earthquake
devastated dozens of villages in the Kashmir Valley, the
people today remembered the dead as victims in Uri staged a
protest against the tardy rehabilitation.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who visited the quake-hit
areas of Teetwal and Tangdhar with Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi
Azad, assured the people that the entire nation was backing
the endeavour to help the victims of the disaster.
In Uri, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah joined
the people in paying tribute to those who died last year and
in staging a protest against the government's alleged failure
to rebuild the township.
People offered prayers for the dead in several places,
including Thandhar and Baramulla. Those living in makeshift
shelters claimed they were preparing for a second winter of
hardship.
Many of those left homeless by the 7.6-magnitude quake
that killed nearly 1,000 complained the authorities had done
little to re-build their houses or address other problems.
Thirty-year-old Sakina, a Baramulla resident whose
husband died in the temblor, said she and her four sons had no
place to build a home. "I am suffering from asthma. My husband
would earlier take me to hospital but now I am left with no
one to care for me," she said.
People living at a relief camp near Baramulla said
they were worried about their future as they had no means to
earn a livelihood. "There are no job opportunities and we
demand the government should help us," said camp resident
Chaudhury Farooq.
Bureau Report
