Multan: "The screams of my class fellows are still echoing in my mind. Their blood-littered faces don't let me sleep in the night. They are calling for help, desperately trying to hold on to life, but to no avail, as no body can recover them from the  massive blocks of campus debris. They all die, leaving me alone with killing memories that might continue to haunt me for rest of my life." 

This is how, Azam Ali Alvi, a survivor of one of the most disastrous earthquake in the history of this area, told his story. Azam is a student of third semester in 4-year B.S. Applied Geology program in Geology Department of University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Muzaffarabad.

Mr. Alvi, his class fellow Babar Siddique and a hostel warden survived 7.6-magnitude earthquake in Muzaffarabad on Saturday and reached Multan in the wee hours of Monday, October 10, 2005.

While recounting the ordeal, he feared that over 800 students and teachers in the old campus of the university were crushed to death under the debris. Even 24 hours after the quake no rescue team could reach the campus. "The killer-quake hit Muzaffarabad at about 8:50 a.m. on Saturday while no rescue team had reached the spot till 9:00 am on Sunday and most of the students and teachers would have died by then," he feared.

Recalling the time when the earthquake smashed Muzaffarabad area, he said that the earth suddenly shook and walls were violently jolted. "I was tying my shoe laces in my hostel room, preparing to go for my class starting at 9:30 a.m. in the old campus, but suddenly everything started to twist and turn fiercely. I tried to stand on my feet but fell down." he described the scene and added, "Babar Siddiuq, my roommate, who belonged from Mansehra, screamed that it is earthquake and we must rush out of our room."

Azam Alvi said that he ran out and fell on the ground four or five times during his struggle to reach the road passing by his hostel. He said that he saw all of the buildings outside the hostel had collapsed. "Crying loudly, women children and older people, followed by an enormous windstorm were running ahead of us," he said and maintained that the earthquake shattered a nearby mountain into many pieces, which generated the windstorm.

He said that the earthquake continued for at least eight minutes with two intervals. "The first and most disastrous tremor of the quake kept thrashing the earth for about six minutes followed by another shorter stretch of two minutes," he recalled that all those buildings, which survived the first attack of the deadly quake fell prey to the second tremor and met with the earth.

He said that a mountain, dislocated due to earthquake, also blocked the flow of Neelum River and spread the panic of a flood. However, the water itself made its way and did not come out of banks.

He apprised that all buildings of new campus were newly built and they remained intact during the quake. However, the entire old campus collapsed and the teachers, students and other staffers were stuck under the rubble. "When we reached the old campus, it looked the scene of a war-ravaged area. Entire departments and the two-story girls hostel were destroyed and boys, girls and teachers were trapped under the ruins, some of them screaming for help," he said.

Sighing sorrowfully he said that a computer lab of BSCS caught fire at the time of quake and as a result over 50 girls were burnt to death. "Some girls of the Botany Department kept yelling for help till 9:00 pm, but in vain. They got silent after 12 hours of ordeal- probably dead-but we could not do anything for them as they were stuck under heavy blocks of building material and we could not pull them out," he could hardly narrate the sad moment while sobbing.

He said that the students carried out rescue operations and saved the lives of two teachers and two students from the rubble. They also recovered about 50 dead bodies of their fellow students. He feared that at least 800 students and teachers were killed in the university.

Torrential rain brought more misery for the quake-hit people as the survivors were under open sky while those stuck under the debris were drowning in chilling water. Alvi said that the residents of nearby areas also gathered in the ground of old campus and kept under the open sky, heavy rain and bone-chilling air for the whole night.

He said that almost all the roads of Muzaffarabad were either shattered or blocked due to land slides while power supply and telecommunication systems were also suspended. "We came out of campus for Garhi Habib Ullah and reached there on foot after traveling five hours. A huge caravan of men, women and children was on way with us, all of them weeping, sobbing and wailing," he apprised this correspondent. He said that all villages and buildings between Muzaffarabad and Garhi Habib Ullah were completely destroyed and the poor people were lying helpless.

Referring to his university, he lamented that the entire university buildings along with faculty and students were erased by the disastrous earthquake. He hoped that the university might be re-established soon.

Source: The Nation

IslamiCity through it's parent organization HADI (Human Assistance & Development International) is mobilizing its existing partners and resources to respond to the crises. The initial needs appear to be tents, blankets, medical kits, food aid, water and trauma counseling for those affected.

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