The tragedy for the old parents of Jaleel didn't end with his disappearance. Three of Jaleel's older brothers -- Mohammad Yaqoob, Ghulam Hassan and Javid Ahmad -- married and settled their own separate homes leaving the old parents and their youngest son, Fayaz Ahmad Khan to fend for themselves. Forced by the circumstances, the 20-year-old Fayaz took a menial job at a local quarry. However, in 2004, he came under a boulder and was rendered crippled. And then the earthquake, in October 2005, shattered every wall of their house.

But the septuagenarian Sarwa and her 75-year-old husband Nawab Khan didn't lose the hope. "He will return one day," Sarwa says. "I am sure he can't leave me like that".