Pakistan Braces for Next Quake Challenge
Sunday, January 29, 2006; 2:59 PM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Ever since South Asia's monster earthquake drove Shahnaz Bibi from her toppled mountain home nearly four months ago, she and 13 others have been sleeping in a tiny dust-caked tent with a dirt floor, no electricity and no heat.
But even if she had the money to rebuild, Bibi is in no rush to leave her sprawling refugee camp on the edge of Islamabad. At least her six children can go to school, the family has access to doctors and she doesn't have to walk one hour to the nearest market.
"This life is obviously better," Bibi said. "We'll stay here as long as we can."
With spring around the corner, sending home refugees of the Oct. 8 earthquake is a top priority for the U.N.-led relief effort, but aid workers warn that is easier said than done.
Exposed in camps for the first time to basic city conveniences, some of the 3.5 million people left homeless by the earthquake do not want to return to the rural hardships and poverty of Pakistan's Himalayan outback.
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