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Earthquake: A mother's grief

© Andrew North - BBC News, Balakot

Thousands of people in northern Pakistan are still waiting for emergency aid, six days since the earthquake although relief supplies are continuing to flow to the region.

Many people are having to walk from outlying villages to the nearest town to get help.

I met 29 year-old Naheed and what is left of her family in the centre of Balakot.

They were sitting at the side of the road, a few blankets spread on the fractured remains of the pavement, now their home.

They had walked from their village Pumara about three hours away because no aid is arriving there.

Her husband Waleed Jan had to be carried by friends. His back and legs were badly injured when the earthquake struck.

Most of the buildings in their village were destroyed.

Now Waleed Jan is lying on a makeshift stretcher, made from part of a bed, on the street.

First shock

Three of their children are nearby - silent, dazed, in shock.

But two of Naheed's children are dead. Her son died when his school collapsed.

Breaking into tears, Naheed tells me, they couldn't find the body of her daughter Nimra. She was 10 years old, she says, doing well at school. But now she's buried under the rubble of their home.

Naheed wipes away her tears. She is a small woman, old beyond her years, but she seems incredibly strong for someone who has experienced such sudden, total tragedy.

The family had been living in Karachi. Waleed Jan had been working making metal doors. They decided they wanted to return just this August to build a house in their home region.

And then came Saturday's earthquake on 8 October.

Naheed remembers she was standing on the terrace that morning when the first shock came.

She said she had no idea what it was, but she remembered when the house started shaking, then the second shock came.

The roof started to fall in. The shaking continued, she said.

Finally, it started to subside. Naheed rushed into the house and managed to pull out her husband and then two of her children.

But her daughter was far too far inside. There was nothing she could do, Naheed said, as the rest of the roof collapsed.

Four days later, her husband injured and no help arriving, she decided she had to get to the nearest town, Balakot, for help.

Her husband has had some basic treatment but he needs much more than first aid.

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