Residents say natural disasters can’t be stopped, but suffering was unimaginable
Sajid Raina
Karnah, Oct 08 Ghulam Nabi Khan, now 80, still lives in a house rebuilt with government aid, but the pain from that day has never left him.
On this day 20 years ago, the Karnah Valley in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district faced a devastating earthquake, claiming over 150 lives, destroying thousands of homes, livestock, and vital infrastructure, and leaving deep scars on the mountains and fields.
“It’s been 20 years since the deadly earthquake devastated and shook the Karnah Valley, yet people here still carry fresh memories of that day,” Khan recalled while speaking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).
He said people lost their loved ones in the tragedy, and the pain that kept us awake for months still haunts us to this day.
“We were busy in the fields when the earth started shaking violently. I ran back home to find the roof collapsing like a deck of cards. My two grandsons were playing inside. They never came out alive. I still see their faces when I close my eyes,” he recalled.
Today, Khan tends a small orchard near his home. “I work every day, but the silence at home reminds me of what I lost,” he said, adding, “It was a natural disaster; no one could have stopped it, but we suffered beyond anything imaginable.”
Locals said that villages like Tangdhar, Tithwal, and other border areas were among the worst hit.
Almost all the ‘kachcha’ houses made of mud and brick collapsed, especially in low-lying areas where over 90% of structures were destroyed.
Even army installations, bridges, and culverts were severely damaged. Roads, including the crucial Karnah-Tangdhar route, were blocked by landslides, isolating the valley for days.
Fatima Begum, 68, was a widow even before the earthquake, but lost her son and many neighbours in the disaster.
“I was fetching water from the spring when the earth trembled. By the time I reached home, everything had fallen: the walls, the roof, and my son trapped inside.”
For days, she searched through the debris alongside others, hoping for a miracle that never came. Now, Fatima lives with her daughter in Tangdhar.
Zubeeda, 35, was newly married and full of hope in 2005. “We had just finished building our mud house when the quake struck at dawn. The walls shook, and then everything fell around us. I held my husband’s hand tightly as we escaped, but our home was gone,” she said.
Since then, Zubeeda has become a community volunteer, helping women rebuild livelihoods after disasters. “I want young women to be empowered to face such hardships, to not lose hope like we almost did,” she said.
Mushtaq Ahmad, now 28, was only eight when the earthquake destroyed his school. “I remember the classroom shaking, the dust, and the cries of friends trapped beneath fallen beams. Some didn’t make it,” he said.
Ahmad recalled that as a child, he thought it was the end of the world, as everything around him shook violently and buildings collapsed to the ground.
Almost 1,700 families in Karnah were forced into temporary shelters after the quake, surviving without electricity, water, or communication for days. Roads were blocked by landslides, isolating the valley. (KNO)
