Eyewitness account of earthquake in Pakistan

Annela Derwash was in her classroom at school and about to take a test, when the devastating earthquake struck the Mansehra district in Pakistan on Saturday, 8th October, here’s her account of the disaster:

Annela's village was almost completely destroyed

“I rushed out into the street along with the other children and saw that all the teachers were also running out, but one teacher lost consciousness and fell down on the ground. The Headmistress stood in the courtyard of the school and kept shouting, “leave the building, leave the building!” I left everything behind in the school and started to rush to my home.

“The father of one of my friends, who had come to our school, took me and some of my other friends to the village. When we got there, I could see that my whole village was destroyed except for two houses. People were searching for their dear ones, while some were busy recovering their belongings from the collapsed houses.

“I saw some children who had been injured.  My friend, Iqra, lost her mother and sister, and I saw blood on the face of Iqra's brother - he is just five years old. Later on, I came to know that two children who went to my school, but were at home that day, died in the earthquake. 

“In the evening of the same day, the Nazim of our union council arranged food for the whole village, but we did not have clean drinking water for many days because our water supply was contaminated. We spent the night in the open air even though it was raining.

“After the earthquake, children stopped going to school and did not even play because there were many aftershocks that frightened them.  My father collected my schoolbag after one month, but my school was going to be closed for some unknown time. 

“One day we found some people near our village talking about setting up a tent village for people affected by the earthquake. I was even more excited to hear about plans to open a school in the tent village.

“After my family went to the tent village, tents and other equipment started arriving. Many children, including me, helped to put up the tent that would be our school. Within no time, the school started functioning, and the number of students increased every day.

My tent school was very different from my previous school. In the tent school, the teachers were very friendly and caring.  We had opportunities to join in different games, as well as learn. I had never experienced this kind of school before. 

“Our teachers divided us into groups and asked us to visit families living in the tents to ask them to send their children to school. We would also inform families about useful methods for health and hygiene.

“When we found ourselves involved in school activities we were able to relax and we could forget our hardships and worries. Most of us would come to school early in the morning at 8 and leave for home after 4 in the afternoon. During these hours all the children were happy and would not think about their problems.

“When my family were moved from the camp back to our village, I returned to my old school.  The building is safe and classes have begun.  But, I could not feel happy here for quite some time because I liked my tent school very much due to the teachers' caring attitude and the interesting activities there. Gradually, I am adjusting to my old school's routines.

“We used to read about earthquakes in our textbooks, but were never taught about what to do in such situations. I remember the children of my village used to play different games before the earthquake. We would enjoy these games very much. Our mothers would cook food for us and children would go to school every day. We were happy and had a peaceful life, but it changed after the earthquake.

“I would like to thank all those who have helped children and their families in this difficult time - they did so much for us.”

Thanks to the help of our generous supporters, Plan has so far raised over £344,000 for those affected by the disaster.