BALAKOT: Foreign and local rescuers abandoned the rescue operation on Wednesday, leaving thousands of bodies under the debris in Balakot. Foreign rescuers working in Balakot left for Kanoor, Kawai, Jareed, Bonja and Paras areas, which were also wiped away by the October 8 earthquake. Not a single body has been retrieved in Garan Dheri and Garlaat villages where thousands of people were buried alive under the debris. Local clerics told people to build boundary walls around the two villages to declare them graveyards. âThe removal of debris in the two villages is a big task which needs a large scale operation and heavy machinery,â Munsif Hussain, a Garlaat councillor, told Daily Times. Mr Hussain, who was rescued by locals after the quake flattened his house, said that around 70 of his relatives had been killed. He said that Balakot tehsil had 12 union councils with more than 100,000 people. âOver 40,000 of them have lost their lives in the catastrophe. Balakot and Garlaat are the worst hit areas,â he said.
The rubble of shops and buildings along the Kaghan Road fell on Sarwar and Barilvi markets and it is impossible to remove the debris without the help of heavy machinery. Local people, however, remained busy on Wednesday in removing the rubble of their shops and houses in a bid to return to normal life.