On the morning of 8 October, an earthquake devastated whole villages and towns in Pakistan, killing more than 73,000 people and leaving millions more to face the winter homeless. RFE/RL correspondents Muhammad Tahir, and Kathleen Moore spoke to ordinary people caught up in 2005's biggest natural disasters.

Mohammad Ibrahim was sitting outside his mountain home in the Pakistani village of Reeiam on 8 October when he felt the ground begin to shake:
"It was 9:30 in the morning. The earth was shaking so much I was thrown onto the ground of the farm. When I stood up, I saw that my house had collapsed. All of the houses had fallen down. I asked for my children and was told that my two daughters and granddaughter were all dead."

In a few minutes, Ibrahim lost his home, his way of life, and much of his family.

Some 25 of his relatives died in the earthquake, which devastated the Kaghan mountain area in Pakistan, where he had worked as a farmer for most of his 75 years:
"For four days, we had nothing to eat and drink. We took out the dead bodies and held funeral prayers for the dead. We were busy for three days taking the bodies and burying them. Then I looked around to the surrounding area, to Balakot, and I saw all the houses were collapsed."

Balakot, close to the epicenter of the earthquake, has come to symbolize the destruction and suffering wreaked by the disaster. The town in North-West Frontier Province was completely destroyed. And with many roads blocked, reaching villages in the surrounding mountains soon presented the greatest challenge to rescuers and aid workers.

Over the next days, thousands of villagers braved landslides to make their way down the peaks to seek shelter and medical treatment.

Ibrahim, despite his injuries, was among those to make the difficult journey, reaching the town of Shinkyari several days after the earthquake struck:
"I am living in a temporary shelter, a tent. I got a blanket and some pots. The people who came from outside the country, thanks to God, they did lots of things for the benefit of the victims."

Ibrahim says he's thankful for the help he's received from the Pakistani government and foreign aid agencies, in this case the Dutch Catholic charity Cordaid. But he says his shelter is not adequate against the cold weather:
"Our shelter looks like a bird cage, and we are living like birds. We do not receive enough food. We are just surviving, thanks to God. We have been given blankets and some other necessary things. Nights are very cold, but we have to survive. Night comes, and then day appears. We are spending our days and nights, with God's mercy. The problem is we have a shortage of food. The government does not support us as much as we need."

For Ibrahim and so many others, the future is uncertain. He says that, eventually, he'd like to go back to his village and be self-sufficient again:
"We are depending on God, on people, on the government, on other organizations that might help. We hope that we will return to our village, to a peaceful life where we have everything, and we should not be waiting for the help of people. We don't like to beg for help forever."

But, he adds, returning home looks like a distant prospect at the moment.

Everything is destroyed, he says. His village cannot be rebuilt "in 50 years."

"RFE/RL"