PICTURE SPEAK

ON THEIR MARKS Armymen ferry supplies from a chopper in quake-hit Uri

Eight-year-old Shaista is lying on a bed in Srinagar's main hospital, the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS). It takes a lot of effort for her to signal that she is thirsty as she uses her hands and facial expressions to communicate. One of the quake-affected children of Sultan Dhaki village in Uri, Shaista has lost her ability to speak, hopefully temporarily.

After the devastating earthquake of October 8, Shaista was caught in the rubble of her house for five hours before being rescued. Her jaws were broken. Though her facial features were restored by plastic surgery, she has not regained her voice. After spending five days in the hospital with no one from her family around, Shaista was reunited with her family with the help of the police and the hospital administration.

The earthquake not only claimed several lives and caused immense damage to property, it also put the lives of thousands of children at grave risk. With the winter setting in early, many people, including children, who have been rendered homeless in the wake of the earthquake, are exposed to extreme conditions. Also many are suffering from severe deprivation and psychological distress. The trauma is unlikely to be cured by the relief and rehabilitation operations under way in the quake-hit areas.

There are an estimated 15,000 children in Uri and Tangdhar who have witnessed this devastation and are now at risk from extreme weather conditions. "We are working on a number of programmes but children are our focus," says Waseem Yousuf, Kashmir coordinator of Save the Children, UK, an international NGO.

Hundreds of children were rescued from the rubble of collapsed houses. Many of them had sustained severe injuries. Three-year-old Zaffar Ali Khan of Uri does not even know how to react. He was admitted to the Bones and Joint Hospital with head injuries, but as his condition worsened, he was shifted to the SKIMS. No one from his family is around to take care of him. His father, Samandar Ali Khan perished in the earthquake, while his blind mother is seriously injured.

"Thousands of children across Kashmir have developed psychological disorders. Most of them will cope up but some may develop post trauma stress disorder (PTSD), depression and even personality disorders," warns Dr Arshid Hussain, who works at the psychiatry department of the Government Medical College in Srinagar. Hussain says the children in the affected areas are the most vulnerable and their normal recovery will depend on how well they are rehabilitated.

No special relief has been issued for the affected children in Uri, even though the need is immense. Faltering authorities, rough weather and the seemingly unending wait for relief, the odds are stacked against the children. Save the Children has come up with a long-term rehabilitation strategy, which will have a special emphasis on children's education and nutrition. Some comfort in the harsh winter.

-By Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar

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