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Emergency preparedness is something we are passionate about at Priority Prepper. That’s why we’re sharing stories from people who have experienced natural disasters and other emergencies. We can all learn a lot from their experiences…
An earthquake can change your life in an instant! That’s something Rameesha learned early in life. She remembers the massive, 7.6-magnitude earthquake that rattled Pakistan and the surrounding area in 2005. We hope her story inspires you to learn more about earthquakes and how to prepare for them, especially if you live near a major fault line.
Rameesha’s Story
I am Rameesha, healthcare enthusiast, researcher, and an avid foodie. I am about to share a short memoir on one of the most destructive natural disasters that ever took place in Pakistan.
The city where I reside, Islamabad, is located on a fault line, along with many other cities. A fault line is a geographical fracture within the Earth’s plates that releases accumulated strain every now and then, in the form of an earthquake. With its epicenter located about 12 miles northeast of Muzaffarabad, the Kashmir earthquake was magnanimous enough to brutally shake the capital city of Pakistan, Islamabad as well.
I remember waking up to my mother’s chaotic screams on the morning of October 8, 2005, and what followed next, changed our lives. Like most kids, I should have been in school that week, but I was recovering from an infection and was still weak and feverish. My mother was pulling me out of bed. I could barely get myself to walk. Somehow, I managed to get myself together, help my mother pick up the most essential of all things, and scramble out of the shaking apartment with my siblings.
I opened the door hurriedly and was met with a crowd of trembling residents chanting the Shahadah (the Islamic Oath), “La Illaha Illa Allah,” meaning “There’s no God worthy of worship except Allah.” Everyone else was haphazardly running down the stairs from the top of the oscillating building. As a third grader, there was nothing I knew about natural disasters and how-to-compose-yourself-in-an-emergency-situation, so quite naturally I freaked out upon this sight.
I remember evacuating the residential building and settling in an open-space parking lot near the neighboring market. There were about a hundred of us; terrified, dazed, and bewildered. Perhaps some of us were still trying to wake up, hoping that this was all a nightmare. My mother was trying to get my brother on a call. He had been away for a while. The arrival of my brother brought so much assurance to me — after all, I was only an 8-year-old, in the middle of a disaster.
Luckily, our apartment building stayed intact for the most part. However, it encountered major cracks that spanned almost every floor. I remember the parking lot where we all had sought temporary shelter. It was a big open space with nowhere to really sit except for the burning ground, under the scorching sun.
All families were calling their relatives and friends to make sure they were safe. Some parents had their kids at school for extracurricular activities and were trying to get ahold of them, calling their teachers. My family was more concerned about where we were going to head next because nobody was ready to step foot in the cracked buildings.
None of us expected this earthquake to be such a big catastrophe. The graveness of the situation began to settle in with what happened next…
Everyone turned their attention towards this young girl who came screaming and crying towards us. She happened to work for a family residing in the Margalla Towers, another apartment complex in Islamabad, which had fallen to the ground. The young girl cited what she saw: people jumping off the building, tying clothes together like a rope to help themselves down, and many people had already died. I wished this were not true. The news started to circulate, everyone was making and receiving calls.
Death tolls were rising and there was news of much worse destruction in the nearby mountainous and high-altitude cities. All families spent the next 24 hours in the parking lot. Some brought out guest beds, some sat in chairs all night, and some slept in their cars. There was uneasiness and sadness in the air.
After a night under the sky, I remember my mother, with such valor, went up the apartment building, walking past the frightening cracks in the walls and up the stairs that heavily shook each time an aftershock struck, with the intent of grabbing more of our clothes so we could finally leave for a few days. The next few days were like a weekend get-away for this eight-year-old me, spending time with my relatives and family friends. We all got some much-needed moral support from each other.
The crash of the Margalla Towers alone killed 78 people and injured 84. The earthquake was reported as a magnitude 7.6, killing roughly 50,000 people across Pakistan. Now, every time I drive past the area where the apartment building collapsed almost 16 years ago, I recall the night when my relatives and I drove to the site a couple of nights after the earthquake. We stood by a fence far away from the rubble, watching the journalists and reporters cover the rescue operation, police patrolling the area, and the army and rescuers trying to save more lives. My family had to move to another place, but the tragic memories of that day will never leave us. To this day, we live to remember just how quickly life can change.
Even small earthquakes can do damage to buildings. It’s impossible to predict what will happen. The only temporal preparation you can do is get an emergency kit put together. If you’re lucky, you’ll have access to it after an earthquake happens. Bug out bags and other emergency kits save lives!
