Hilary heads to earthquake zone

My friend Shahida said the house started to roll -- so badly that she was thrown from side to side as she tried to reach the door to get outside.

She cannot believe that her house is still standing after the disaster.

Once she fled the house and escaped to the garden, she said the ground was heaving in front of her.

She was sure the ground would open up and that they would all be lost.

So many buildings have cracked and people are worried about the safety of their homes.

Strengthening of school buildings has been the first priority.

Parents were frightened to send their children to school as so many children had died in school in Muzzaferabad.

I gather everything closed down for a month -- and everyone was involved in the rescue effort.

Women went to the hospitals to care for the children, particularly those who were orphaned.

The office staff here were recording details of everyone arriving by helicopter.

Secondary aged students worked at the hospitals carrying stretchers from the helicopters and moving the injured to and from the operating theatres.

That meant all the hospital staff could concentrate on treating the injured.

According to my friends everyone was involved in the rescue efforts.

Individual stories are heartbreaking.

Shahida's driver lost his home when the earthquake struck.

His mother was trapped in the wreckage.

Her back was broken and he has had to give up his job to return home, rebuild his home and care for his mother.

Another driver was actually there, in Bagh, when the earthquake struck.

He was standing in a bus when it was overturned with the tremendous force of the earthquake.

He climbed out and as he watched he saw two mountains collapse inwards together -- crushing the town.

A school system, the largest in Pakistan, has offered to rebuild all the schools in the town of Chokothi and equip them of course.

I'm going to visit the tented refugee camp on Tuesday.

Until next week.

Hilary Browne, in Pakistan.