MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - Sirens wailed in somber reminder, then the bustling streets of this Kashmiri city fell silent, as hundreds of people marked the first anniversary of the South Asia earthquake that killed 80,000 people.
Similar memorials were held throughout the country to remember those killed in the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck at 8:52 a.m. a year ago, leaving more than 100,000 injured and 3.5 million homeless in northern Pakistan and disputed Kashmir, the region divided between India and Pakistan.
On the main street of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and one of the worst hit cities, hundreds of people stopped their errands and their conversations and stood quietly as the sirens faded.
At a memorial ceremony at the grounds of Muzaffarabad’s Azad Jammu Kashmir University, which was destroyed in the earthquake, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf praised reconstruction efforts as a victory for Pakistan.
He singled out the relief effort led by Pakistan’s military, which sprang into action after the quake to rescue people from the rubble, provide aid and begin large-scale reconstruction.
“It is a victory for the government, for the army, for the people, for the non-governmental organizations and for the world that supported it,” Musharraf told at least 1,000 people who attended the service. “It was due to the help and generosity of the whole world and the NGOs that we were able to improve the situation.”
The Pakistani president also urged people affected by the quake to be patient, promising his government was working to improve their lives.
The task of rebuilding is daunting, even with pledges of $6.7 billion in aid. More than 600,000 homes, 6,500 schools and 800 clinics and hospitals were destroyed by the quake, as well as nearly 4,000 miles of roads.
In Muzaffarabad, the force of the quake toppled hundreds of buildings, trapping thousands under the rubble. The quake triggered landslides that sheared thousands of tons of soil from towering mountains surrounding the city. Ghostly white scars still remain on the mountain faces where the land was cut away.
But life here has assumed a degree of normality among the partially cleared ruins. Rubble and collapsed minarets no longer block the narrow alleys of Medina Market. Crudely repaired stores are well stocked. Across the city, children attend class at schools set up in tents and prefabricated buildings.
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.
Musharraf has said his government will ensure the provision of basic facilities to those affected by the quake and that he hopes 80 percent of the reconstruction will be completed in the next three years. Aid organizations have said the reconstruction could take up to eight years to complete.