Gul Mughal, 22, was married just two years—and they were the best two years of his life, he says.
The 7.6 magnitude earthquake that shook three countries across Asia on October 8 killed his wife, his two sisters, his sister-in-law and her two children. It killed his dreams for children of his own. By the time the men of the family reached them, all were dead. The family of 16 is suddenly only 10, and among those only two are women. The same quake killed 54,000 people in Pakistan alone. “We had just started our life together and now it’s gone,” Gul says of his dead wife. “Marriages here are always arranged. Over time we come to love each other, to know one another. I was just beginning to understand my wife and now she is gone.” Of the quake, he said: “It was the most frightening moment in my life. The hills were shaking; rocks were crashing down the slopes. After we came out of our shock we started to think about the loss of our family members. We started crying. We didn’t eat for days.”
Food
Work is Gul’s therapy. The family must figure out how to survive the harsh Himalayan winter with almost all their food stocks destroyed. The family harvested 640 kilos of maize shortly before the earthquake. Only one bag remains.
Gul and one of his brothers open the bag. Inside are unappetizing ears of shiny, hard corn kernels. The contents won’t last 10 people for two weeks, and what they eat is nowhere near the minimum nutritional requirements of the body. More than 600 kilos of maize is under the debris with four dead cows. It is ruined for human consumption. The rotting carcasses stain the air with the smell of death. The family is left with four goats and some chickens.
Shelter
The family has built a low-slung dwelling using corrugated iron salvaged from the roof of their destroyed home. The only good thing about the shelter’s cramped space is it will give its 10 occupants no choice but to huddle together, making the best use of their body heat.
Winter is going to strike very soon. There’s nothing left to rebuild and no time to rebuild. We are thinking about moving down to the town and living in tents,” said Gul’s father, Subba. He has a plan: “We will have to pick up each and every stone and little piece of wood to start again. We’ll work hard to earn money and come back in the spring to rebuild.”
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