Mir Peer Jan, an elder in the area, was observing the construction of a home in Malaar town when I approached him. Silently he gestured all around him, pointing to the changes since the earthquake last year. “Ninety-seven deaths were reported from our union council [UC] alone,” Peer Jan said of Malaar, which falls under Teertej, one of the six badly affected UCs of Awaran district.

In ruins after the 7.5 magnitude temblor that hit the district, Malaar today presents an improved picture. But despite the development, the district has perennial problems. What people complain about most is access. The 25-kilometre drive from Awaran to Malaar takes two hours because there are no metalled roads.

Mohammad Behram, who lost two children in the earthquake, said, “Right after the earthquake, it took the relief teams hours to get here. I sat on the rubble of my home with my children in my arms. Edhi ambulances were the first to arrive. I don’t know how they made it.”

Also read: Malik says all resources will be used to help quake-hit Awaran people

Among the earlier relief teams to reach Awaran — and they are still available according to families — were the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation of Jamaatud Dawa, Al Khidmat Foundation of the Jamaat-i-Islami, and Al Khair Trust. These organisations are providing the poorest sections with daily and monthly rations, while the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) and Hands are working on the ground where rebuilding houses is concerned.

There are many scars left by the earthquake across this side of Malaar known as Cheeri (lower) Malaar. The only solid structure is a mosque with deep cracks in its walls. Mud houses destroyed last year have been replaced with straw and bamboo structures. A mud and brick wall surrounds the area housing around 250 people.

Soon after the earthquake, water conduits known as karez collapsed causing severe water problems. At the moment, every household needs 600 litres of water for daily use, the district programme officer with the NRSP, Wahid Buksh, said. “We have helped install water tanks for them. But in some cases, you do need the local government to play its role too. Its efforts are not visible. We are willing to help them with skills and equipment.”

Residents said that two months ago, some 7,000 families received cheques from the Awaran Housing Reconstruction Authority. But there is a catch, explained Ma’ab Bibi, an elder. “People are given these cheques in three instalments. The entire sum is Rs220,000 of which people will get Rs88,000 as the first instalment, another Rs88,000 as the second and the rest as the third. So far, only a few have gotten the first one — in our compound at least,” she added.

Even if given instalments, resident Hanif Ahmed added, “there are no banks nearby to cash it. It takes us two hours to reach Awaran city, where a bank is located. There have been times when we have been asked by the bank to get verification from the sponsoring authority since their computer system is down. The sponsoring authority usually sits in Karachi or Turbat. In some cases, the people hired agents to do the job for them. But they demanded Rs10,000”.

Housed near a heavily guarded road leading to the main Awaran Bazaar, District Commissioner Officer Aziz Jamali was eager to tell his side of the story. Sitting in his newly painted office, he said it was a Rs4 billion reconstruction project, funded partly by the provincial government and partly by the centre. Cheque distribution aimed to benefit 16,000 affected families in the course of three years. Apart from the 7,000 people who were given the first instalment two months back, he said, another 800 had been handed the second instalment and 18 the third.

“Now, why the delay, you’d ask. We decided to distribute the cheques by hand after verifying the affected people in a door-to-door drive across the district. The army did the initial survey and identified homes for us. We can’t focus on one area. We would be labelled as selective. I can’t afford political tagging at the moment. Our team was attacked in Dandhar, which is closer to Kech, in September. I also noticed people have little trust in the authorities, so we are also focusing on changing mindsets by being more present and active. We are willing to take the security risk.”

The DCO’s reconstruction project is being hampered by lack of available skills. Soon after the earthquake, 4,000 army personnel were deployed in the district as clashes between the separatists and army personnel affected the local population. It was followed by an exodus of hundreds (some say thousands) from Mashkay, Gishkore, Dandhar and Awaran city to Bela, Uthal, Vinder, and Hub, and included daily wage earners and labourers, who are mostly Sindhi, Urdu, Punjabi and Brahawi speakers.

“We don’t have plumbers and carpenters. People with technical skills are either not here or unwilling to come. We have taken help from the NRSP and hired most of their former staff but that won’t be enough. We don’t just want to build homes, we want to make sure they are seismically safe. We need labourers immediately,” Jamali said.

The daily wage earners and labourers who migrated from Mashkay to Vinder can be identified easily in the main market. A year on, the shops still look clean with neatly placed items. Men can be found sitting outside these shops with an axe; some are called for work while others doze off as they wait the whole day.

Nawab, a daily wage earner back in Mashkay, said he would return only if the situation is safe for his family. “We are not aligned with a tanzeem [separatists in Awaran],” he says. “I came here to earn a decent living, but it’s getting tough. I used to cobble, fix roofs, help with plumbing — anything that was needed. There are hundreds like me here. I lost three daughters in the earthquake. We were almost starving when we made it here. I’m torn between wanting to go home and earning in a safe place.”

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2014