PoK: ‘It was more than facing death’

‘‘Tremors, wailing people, buildings in pieces, bodies, tents and the roar of helicopters...’’ this is the nightmare 78-...

‘‘Tremors, wailing people, buildings in pieces, bodies, tents and the roar of helicopters…’’ this is the nightmare 78-year-old Jameet Singh brought home tonight from Muzaffarabad. ‘‘It was like facing death, perhaps, more than that,’’he said.

On Saturday, when the 7.6-earthquake rocked the region, he was still in bed, with a cup of tea, at his relative’s house in Bandi Jamadaran, about 14 kilometres from Muzaffarabad. ‘‘Suddenly, there was a big bang. For a moment, I could not judge what it was,’’ recalled Singh. ‘‘But within seconds, the front portion of the house was hanging in air. I ran outside. Within a few minutes, the cries broke out.’’

‘‘Thori der ke liye mera dhayan ghar (Jammu) kee taraf gaya kee kahin vahan bhee to zalzala nahin aaya hoga par jaldi hee jaan bachane ke liye mein surakshit jagah dekhne laga (I immediately worried if an earthquake had hit my home here too but soon, I began to look for a safe place to save myself,’’ he said. Within seconds, he added, everything was a blur in the dust raised by falling buildings.

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Jameet said he later saw that only one small portion of the house was left standing. ‘‘When I was coming out, I saw a boy running out of the house but within seconds, he disappeared in the debris.’’ The situation only deteriorated as the days passed. ‘‘We did not see even a single Pakistani doctor there,’’ said Singh; the only doctors he saw were from the Red Cross.

Jameet Singh is the first survivor from this side of the LoC to return home. ‘‘The other five are also expected to reach late tonight,’’ Singh added. Yesterday, they were airlifted by a Pakistani chopper from Bandi Jamadaran. They crossed over at Wagah today.

Singh’s family went up to Amritsar to bring him home. ‘‘First of all, we went to Harmandar saheb,’’ his wife Harbans Kaur said.

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