Ten years ago in October 2005, Pakistan bore witness to one of the worst natural disasters in recent history, as an earthquake with a rating of 7.6 on the Richter scale devastated the northern part of the country. The Kashmir earthquake killed over 75,000 people and injured a further 125,000 plus people while leaving approximately 500,000 families (amounting to 3.5 million individuals) homeless. The scale of the destruction was unprecedented and has left an everlasting mark on the region. Unfortunately, even a full decade after the fact, the lives of the earthquake’s victims are still in the doldrums as the promised rehabilitation and reconstruction have become victims of mismanagement, bureaucratic quagmires and outright corruption and callousness. The state’s bodies are trying to spin their decade-long failure to deliver as a resounding success complete with an avalanche of statistics being thrown in front of inquiring reporters. For instance, an official from the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA) proudly asserts that 90 percent of the work is complete and then gives a percentage breakdown that, while having the appearance of precision is likely to feature fudged numbers and still fails to back up the ’90 percent’ claim. “55 percent completion of infrastructure” and “70 percent completion of public facilities like schools and hospitals and offices” over ten years are not declarations that inspire confidence in the competence of ERRA. Reports from on the ground present an even more dismal picture. An entire generation has been deprived of facilities for education and basic healthcare as thousands of destroyed schools and hospitals remain unconstructed, while the victims continue living in precarious housing. The tragedy of Balakot is heart wrenching. The entire city was destroyed, and residents were promised resettlement in a New Balakot City. Thousands of residents continue to be jerked around while the resettlement is delayed for whatever reason, and the ‘old’ Balakot also remains unreconstructed. Successive governments have ignored the crisis and for most of the past decade the plight of the victims remained absent from headlines. Money, donated from all corners of the world for these projects, was continually mismanaged and the cash flow was restricted. As years went by, complacency ensured that the newer construction projects do not even comply with the safety standards necessary to prevent a repeat of the earthquake devastation. This kind of senseless, shortsighted recklessness can only invoke disgust. Even the worst natural disaster has failed to instil any values of prudence and long term thinking. Disaster management strategies have remained pitifully lacking, as the calamity of natural occurrences is exacerbated exponentially by human errors. Five years after the earthquake, the country suffered from floods which once again caught the state unprepared and the lack of proper intervention meant that an entirely avoidable mass scale tragedy, from which the country is still suffering, occurred. Alas, the indifference and callousness of the state knows no bounds. *