‘I came home. My village was gone' (From Ealing Times)

‘I came home. My village was gone'

3:38pm Thursday 1st December 2005

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A CALL to open our eyes to the plight of earthquake victims facing a freezing summer in tents, came from Riffet Bervaz - whose family live in Southall - as she showed Ealing Times reporter Benedict Moore Bridger the devastated region this week.

Benedict sent these harrowing pictures, of Tent City, in Islamabad, where he has joined Riffet Bervaz, and her brother-in-law, High Wycombe magistrate Arif Hussain, on a relief mission.

‘I can forget all this misery but not my child screaming’

Benedict travelled to the disaster-struck region with Mr Hussain to try to raise awareness.

The pair, who arrived in the country on Thursday, travelled to the camp which was funded through Five Pillars, a charity set up by Mr Hussain.

Mrs Bervaz helped organise four truckloads of supplies to be distributed to the most remote regions, and engineered for two doctors to be sent to Chitang village in Battel.

She said: "There was also a demand for food so we also sent rice, dhal and biscuits. We will carry on delivering supplies as long as we can and as long as people need it."

Mrs Bervaz moved to Pakistan 18 months ago, after spending 12 years in England. The refugee camp in Islamabad is providing food and shelter for 500 people who lost their homes. Kausar Iqbal, a Five Pillars partner who lives in Islamabad, said: "These people have lost everything. The only possessions they have are what they were wearing when the earthquake hit."

Mir Ifthakhair, 27, travelled from Davlian in the Neelum Valley one of the worst-hit areas.

He lost 28 family members..

He said: "After the quake I had come back home from working but there was no sign of my village. Everything was on the floor. So many had died. Bodies were everywhere."

The camp, which has been running since October 12, employs four full-time staff. Five Pillars wants to employ a full-time doctor and a primary school teacher to start educating the children. It will cost £10,000 a month to run.

"We want to provide good living conditions but also some sort of education for the kids."

See next week's Ealing Times for Benedict Moore-Bridger's exclusive report from Pakistan

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