Footprints: Out in the cold
The villagers say it was the earthquake that opened up the huge crack in the snow-covered Chakast peak towering in the backdrop. At its base, surrounded by gold- and orange-hued maple and poplar trees, lies Muldeh, one of a cluster of six hamlets located 8,000 feet up in the Hindu Kush mountains. On this cold November day, the watery sun offers no warmth and the temperature hovers a few degrees above freezing.
Ordinarily, the cold is of no real concern for these hardy people; it is merely a phase in the yearly cycle of the seasons. But what was normal is not so any longer, and the prospect of winter is cause for dread, for Muldeh is among the hundreds of hamlets in upper Chitral’s Mastuj tehsil that were badly affected by the Oct 26 earthquake. Almost all the houses here were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by the tremors, leaving residents at the mercy of the elements.