Of the 85 schools of Tangdhar valley where 7,000 students of the area would study, 80 were flattened. And a year after the devastating tremors, the schools still run in makeshift tents and community halls.The quake had destroyed every health centre in the valley, leaving just two medical aid centre buildings intact. The government has not managed to even repair the damage done to the sub-district hospital building.

The story of 25 displaced families of Gundi Gujran village reflects just how long Tangdhar has waited to get back on track. The families were asked to shift from their village soon after the quake and put in a colony of one-room shelters on the Tangdhar-Teetwal Road built by non-governmental organisations. “We lost everything in the quake, our homes, our cattle, everything. We had hoped the government will rehabilitate us properly,” said Shabir Ahmad Khwaja. “But they put us in these one-room shelters and everybody forgot us.”

The only village, where the scars of the quake seem to have healed despite the loss of 22 lives and total destruction is Teetwal on the banks of Neelam river that bisects Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Teetwal was adopted by the Army. And today, this remote village has a modern community centre, a gymnasium, a well-equipped primary health centre, a new building for school, an amphitheatre, a public library and solar lights for the villagers who hadn’t seen electricity.

As the morning sun shines over the distant snow-capped peaks, we start a treacherous journey to a village which has always suffered for being right on the faultline. Divided between India and Pakistan by a narrow gorge Chatkadiyan is an unwanted hamlet that lies too close to Pakistan. We trek 2 km up a mountain ridge, cross the Army’s LoC fence, walk another 500 metres down the hill to arrive in Chatkadiyan. Here, each one of its 22 families lost their homes. And are still living in tents and tin shelters.

... contd.