A devastating earthquake hit Kashmir on 8 October 2005 which left over 1000 dead, hundreds of homes destroyed and countless numbers numbed and traumatized.
The Trauma
People were unable to shut their eyes for fear that the earthquake would recur. They were complaining of total lack of peace and also restlessness. The children were experiencing physical symptoms like body ache and stomach ache. A streak of aggression towards each other was also significant.
Relief Camps
Within 48 hours of the earthquake volunteers of the AOLF and the IAHV reached the worst affected areas providing relief. The early relief camps were organized spontaneously. Local volunteers toured the remote countryside much ahead of official machinery, identifying victims and providing trauma relief to the villagers. In many instances, entire villages exhibited symptoms of fear and depression.
Larger relief camps were held as soon as communication networks were restored. In Kamalkot and Tangdhar 500 children and 750 adults participated in groups of 100-150; in Parara and Amroi about 240 persons collected in each camp. In Kupwara 140 children participated: they had been evacuated from their homes and were in camps set up by the Social welfare department. In the state capital Srinagar, camps were conducted every day, covering 300 children.
CHILD CARE
December 2005, Srinagar: the first IAHV-Art of Living Winter Shelter takes in 150 children who have lost their homes in the earthquake.
-By mid-January another 100 children are taken in on an emergency basis and a second Shelter opens.
-End February 2006, 120 children-in-need remain , and the Winter Shelters transform to Child Care Centres with separate boys and girls hostel and a school is established in hired premises.
-Currently AOL provides a warm and comfortable home, nutritious meals and education and recreation facilities to these children, accommodated in rented premises in Shivpora, Srinagar.
Testimonials
“Until we did the breath exercises my heart had not stopped pounding, not since the earthquake. Now at last I am at peace, I will tell my neighbours.” (Begum Azie, Shaalkot village, Baramullah, Kashmir, Oct. 20, 2005).
Ashfaq, aged 15 years: I used to feel that my brain has stopped working, there was no retention power left, now after the course I am feeling very fresh and I a thinking about the future.
Arshad Khan, aged 14, Gabra village: “Every morning I used to wake up with a jolt, my whole body used to ache and at night I used to be very scared of noises and I missed my mother who died in quake. Now I am feeling very relaxed and no longer afraid of noises.”
Ishfaq Ahmed (13 yrs) “ I used to be very depressed and I wanted was to die and there was severe pain in the knees now the pain is gone so have bad thoughts.”
“You called us down into the rice-fields, I thought it was for food…then we did the breathing exercise…There was a ghost in my mind since the earthquake, bhoot svar, now my mind is free.” Zarifa Banu
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