A six-strong team of delegates connected with the Doncaster-based
AHS Foundation are home from Kashmir deeply moved by the aftermath
of the disaster but impressed by the stoicism and optimism of
the survivors. During the visit, they met the Kashmir Prime
Minister to discuss their part in the recovery operations.
Foundation trustees Maureen Shah and Asma Hassan led the fact-finding
visit to the mountain village of Noon Bagla, where the Foundation
is creating a cottage hospital. The site for the hospital has
been acquired, ground levelled and work on the retaining wall
almost completed. The Foundation has now stocked a first aid
station and dispensary and employed a pharmacist to attend to
basic health needs.
The local school was destroyed in the earthquake, killing 14
children and the Foundation has now acquired one new classroom
and supplied the children with a play area that includes swings,
a slide and a roundabout.
Commenting on life in Noon Bagla two years on, Mrs Shah said:
“There are still few permanent houses. Two winters after
the earthquake almost everybody lives in temporary shelters
or in the ruins of their homes. There is no skills training
in the village and only twenty people have permanent jobs, almost
all of them government jobs. Prior to October 2005, Noon Bagla
was the market place for dozens of smaller villages; today only
a handful of people have attempted to restart their businesses.
"All the younger children now attend a temporary school
in Noon Bagla but the nearest High School is in Chikar twelve
kilometres away by road, or an hour and half walk down the valley.
The trek home takes two to three hours. Understandably, very
few, if any, attempt the journey on a regular basis. Consequently,
their education is severely restricted and their chances of
improving their lives and supporting their families in later
years are substantially diminished.”
Trip co-ordinator Eileen Myles added: “Nothing can ever
compensate for the devastating effects of the earthquake. However,
the immediate response from so many countries, organisations,
groups and individuals showed how an often troubled world can
unite when tragedy strikes so unexpectedly and on such a vast
and indiscriminate scale.
“We cannot turn back the clock but we can all help to
create lasting and positive outcomes by ensuring the tens of
thousands who died are remembered through our thoughts, words
and especially our actions.
“The AHS Foundation is a very small part of that process.
Effectively built on the ruins of a single village, Noon Bagla,
our charity aims to ensure the lives of those who survived there
are changed for the better. In addition, links are being forged
with local people, particularly the younger generation, and
we are looking at ways to develop skills that will help to make
the village much more self-sufficient. We want to see all these
initiatives incorporated into a long-term plan that develops
Noon Bagla as a model village, a health, education and economic
centre for the numerous, smaller villages that surround it.
The hospital at Noon Bagla will support up to ten thousand people
from some thirty five outlying villages.”
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