Shaken!

Almost thirty hours have passed since the first earthquake Saturday morning at 0855. In my entire life I have never seen a day like 8th October. I do vaguely remember the Ojhri camp blasts but I was very young then and the gravity of the situation was completely lost on me.

I went to the office with An according to our new Ramadan timings. We entered the service road from the chowk and crossed ABL, An noticed something falling from the building, then I saw people running out of their offices. Meanwhile, the driver was trying to brake but the car was almost sliding and wouldn’t stop. We figured maybe the tyre was punctured. It took almost a hundred feet before the car came to a halt. It was then that I noticed that the buildings were shaking.

Yesterday was a day of constant fear. My office is on the third floor and I can’t count the number of times I ran up and down the stairs. Our main set with the blue area high rise and presidency is on the fifth floor. Basically my day was spent running up and down the stairs, half of the time because of the after shocks and the rest of it to convey the next piece of news to our reporters who were going live. The mobile connections were jammed and there was no other way of communication and smoke signals are not an option anymore.

After the initial earthquake we figured that this was when our job truly began. I called home, abu and then saddy to find out that they were alright. After the second shock, I got a call from Ali who told me that Margalla tower had collapsed. I couldn’t believe my ears. Never did I imagine that tragedy could strike so close to home. Then I got a call from our muzaffarabad correspondent. Poor guy was almost in shock. I was worried about shan but the seismology department confirmed that Sindh was safe.

The adrenaline rush kept me going in the morning. But by the time I went up for my Zuhr prayers, I was completely overwhelmed. I called up the seismology department on a hunch in the morning to check if there would be any after shocks. I was right because I was told that the shocks could last for at least another 48 hours. When I told dogar sahib he told me to go on air and say it. Imagine going on air and telling people what they least want to hear. I was totally out of breath when I conveyed this. I think I was the most flustered person around. I was so glad when the rest of our reporters got to the office and took over. The next thing I discovered was that a series of small jolts had been shaking this plateau for the past week and nobody noticed or reported this! Another thing that I found out was that this earthquake had not originated from Hindukush rage but rather from Hazara belt.

Its almost numbing the extent of destruction caused by this earthquake. I know all we hear are figures and words that can’t even begin to capture or manifest the lives lost. This morning I was sitting and thinking that I am so incredibly lucky and then so ungrateful because I can’t even begin to comprehend how it would have been for me. An earthquake of 7.6 rocked my country and here I am Alhumdulilah. My family is safe, my home intact. Can I ever thank Allah ji? At the same time, I feel so helpless because what can I do? It just doesn’t feel enough donating blankets etc. I wish Pakistan was more organized and we were better equipped to handle these situations. But we are not! What’s more frustrating is how these VIPs put self projection first. I was so angry when I saw the president and PM plus their entourage walking over the rubble. What was the purpose of their visit? Sympathy? What kind of sympathy makes people walk over rubble when they know for a fact that people are actually dying under their feet! Didn’t they know that there was precious time left before the sunset and their very presence causes everyone to leave the rescue efforts so that security is not breached? Idiots!!! And then Shaukat Sultan actually had the audacity to tell the CNN correspondent that ‘army is fully capable of handling the situation and that’s what they are trained for’. Idiots!!!!!!!