Junaid was the guy who took us in and he was extremely kind and generous and way beyond his 24 years. His house was very nice, no real damage but it had obviously been shaken. Nevertheless the family was camping outside in the garden.
We set up shop in one of the downstairs bedrooms with make shift desk. The edit went well though the house did shake from time to time. Once done we gave a tape to be driven back to Islamabad and then decided what to do next. I also had to try to feed via sat phone which once up and running would take a good couple of hours. By the time that finished it would be 7 or 8 pm so we couldn’t really be looking for somewhere to camp.
Junaid and his family insisted that we stay at his uncles house just around the corner. This has a fantastic grassed courtyard but had not survived the quake so well. One side of buildings had collapsed down the hill. It was a perfect place to feed, eat and rest up as we knew we would be on the road again early in the morning.
Just before the light went, we headed off to do another live. We set up in apart of the town we hadn’t been to on some rooves or floors where houses used to be. Not a place to jump up and down anyway. Eventually we are on air and Richard is describing the scene and I am off showing what its like.
Aftershock and quite a strong one - not my usual wobbly camera - thank God it was on air, as the presenter was had asked some blithering question and it gave us an excuse to remind them why we were here. As soon as we had finished I turned around to see all the locals who were just behind me back on hard ground - saying quickly quickly - its unsafe…. errr… yup. We packed up in an organised fashion - honest in work I am orgainsed - and headed back to the house.
Feeding by sat phone just didn’t work - one box just would not talk to another - even after a lengthy call to Clive in London. For our package to get on air tonight we were not only dependant on the driver getting to Islamabad but also meeting up with our producer there and feeding it back.
Dinner of instant meals again - well its food - darkness fell and our hosts built us a fire to keep us warm.
If it wasn’t for the dreadfull circumstances we would have been treated to some music and dancing. Watching the fire as the hours ticked by was very peaceful though.
Its amazing the technology that we travel around with. A tiny Honda generator to give us light and charge batteries. (Best 300 quid I’ve spent of companies money)
Sat phones to keep in contact with home and the office.
Even the ability to surf the internet - showing our hosts news and pictures from around the region.
We almost could be known as ‘boffins with out borders’.
Finally we get the call to say London have the package, after some serious nailbiting, and it will make the 5.00pm news.
Getting late - about 9.30 and feeling knackered we head off to bed. Richard is sleeping outside on one of the charboys - outside bed thingy - to save me from his snoring - under the house’s portch though, his call. Junaid is concerened for our safety and offers to sleep here too with his cousins. A little nervous - we accept.
A solid night sleep isn’t really the correct way to describe it. I guess in Pakistani households there are so many people and so much too-ing and fro-ing that you get used to all the noise and sleep though it. Broken crokery being walked over and loud talking - err no. Not so many aftershocks though.
We have another visitor in the morning who had a call from his sister in the UK. Some of the landlines have been fixed. She saw our package on last night and called to make sure everyone was safe. Its astounding what a small world it has become.
The cup of tea in the morning was fantastic.
That pile of ashes you see in the photo… our boys are going to have some explaining to do. It turns out that Junaid’s Uncle was very proud of his grass and wouldn’t even let them run on it when they were kids….. We left soon after being told this.
