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Expat's heart cries for the city that was

DUBAI — She had just arrived in Dubai and two days later, the killer earthquake struck Pakistan. Luckily, her family back home survived, but several other people she knew did not.

Maria Iqbal, a resident of Muzaffarabad which was completely devastated by the quake, is shaken and grief-struck. "I thank Allah that my family is safe, but 90 per cent of the people I knew since childhood are no more. My mother, two sisters and brother witnessed the horror, and through their eyes, I can see all that happened," she said.

"Physical wounds heal, but emotional and psychological scars remain forever. This is what my family is undergoing now. They have seen everything from up close," says a sobbing Maria.

A journalist and a social worker, Maria says that a whole generation has been wiped out. "According to the custom of the people in Muzaffarabad, for years, no one has married outside the family. So, in a way everyone knows everybody but after the quake, not one house remains unaffected."

Recalling details, as told to her by her surviving family, Maria said: "My eight-year-old brother was in school at that time, but luckily, he was outside the school building. He tells me that he saw his school friends enter the building, and suddenly the building came down. He never saw his friends again."

"He is deeply shaken, and psychologically affected by the incident," she added.

"Likewise, my sister was also saved by God, as she too was about to enter her college building when the quake struck. My mother and other sister also escaped unhurt and now they are in Islamabad," Maria said, adding that her family did not have water to drink for three days until they reached Islamabad.

"Muzaffarabad is a ghost town now. The stench of death hangs in the air, and all survivors have migrated to Islamabad where they hope to get some relief," she said.

"The Pakistan government can never release the actual figures of the death toll, because adjoining Muzaffarabad alone were several small villages that have not been accounted for. No aid has reached there and there is no hope of it reaching even now," she said.

"Whole schools with children have been wiped out. The government is hiding these details, and the media has not been able to reach there yet. The state of affairs is highly saddening and it will take a long time to get everything organised," she said, adding that her heart cries for the city that was.