Musharraf leads memorial for quake victims
Pakistan’s president led a sombre memorial service today in Kashmir to mark the first anniversary of a massive earthquake that killed more than 80,000 people.
Sirens wailed and a minute’s silence was held at 8.52am local time, when the 7.6-magnitude earthquake first struck across northern Pakistan and in the war-divided region of Kashmir, leaving more than 100,000 wounded and 3.5 million homeless.
General Pervez Musharraf led the memorial ceremony in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, in the grounds of the Azad Jammu Kashmir University which was destroyed in the earthquake.
Hundreds of people stood in silence in the normally bustling main street of Muzaffarabad, which was one of the cities worst hit by the disaster.
Musharraf praised the massive relief effort, led by Pakistan’s military, that sprang into action immediately after the quake to rescue people from the rubble, provide relief and begin a large-scale reconstruction programme.
“It is a victory for the government, for the army, for the people, for the non-governmental organisations and for the world that supported it,” Musharraf told at least 1,000 people who attended the service.
The Pakistani president also urged people affected by the quake to be patient and promised that his government was working to improve their lives.
But the task of rebuilding is daunting, even with pledges of 6.7 billion dollars (£3.6 billion) in aid. More than 600,000 homes, 6,500 schools and 800 clinics and hospitals were destroyed by the quake, as well as more than 3,700 miles of roads.
Displaced families still crowd city parks and hillsides, living in crudely erected shacks or under canvas.
The government says about 40,000 people remain in tents and that reconstruction has started on one-fifth of the earthquake-proof homes destroyed by the disaster.
Hundreds of memorial services were being held across Pakistan to mark the disaster, which sparked a massive outpouring of humanitarian relief and reconstruction aid that continues in many of the affected areas.
Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz are expected to travel throughout the northern Pakistani quake zones today to attend ceremonies and inaugurate facilities that have been built in the year since the earthquake ravaged cities, towns and mountain villages.
Yesterday, more than 1,000 survivors rallied in Islamabad demanding that officials overcome the delays in the release of compensation so they can rebuild their homes.
Chanting slogans such as “Stop taking bribes!” “Stop cheating us!” and “Build our homes before snowfall,” the protesters marched from the parliament building to the government department responsible for releasing aid money for reconstruction.
