Hearts of Kashmir by  Kiran Shaheen

Even after one year, Sayyad Maksud Hussein doesn’t budge from the graveyard.

The horror of the disaster and the grief of loosing his four sons is clearly reflected in his eyes. Pointing towards a grave, he utters in a choking voice: “Here sleeps my one-year old son, and there my three elder sons."

Eighteen members of Sayyad’s family lost their lives on October 8, 2005 when an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale shook India and Pakistan leaving some 3 million homeless and more than 70,000 dead.

Sayyad Maksud lives in a tiny village near the town of Udi close to the military Line of Control in Indian Administrated Kasmir. When I ask his permission to take his picture, he bounces back: “what will you do with my photograph?” I prefer to shut my camera.

This is my third journey into the hearts of the Kashmiri people who lost everything in the earthquake. My destination is Rangwar, a tiny hamlet of 82 families whose struggle is creating history in Kashmir.

Village wiped out

The hamlet, located at an altitude of 12,000 feet, is surrounded by dense forest and accessible only by foot. It was completely destroyed in the disaster.

Residents had no option but to move. They now live in a clearing in an area called Drangyari on the road to the towns of Tangdhar and Udi. 

It was here, a few days after the quake that ActionAid’s emergency response team first encountered the people of Rangwar.

They were lying by the side of the road exhausted and in shock after carrying their youngest and most elderly down the steep hillside.

Read part II

Kiran Shaheen is Senior Manager, Campaigns for ActionAid India and was part of the response team after the 2005 earthquake.