These entries are from my independent self-funded project of late last year in the earthquake-hit regions of Pakistan. On October 8th 2005, at 8:50am (local Pakistan time), an earthquake of 7.6 magnitude hit the Northern areas of Pakistan.

IT WAS 8.52am, and Rubi Noreen was walking home after delivering her six-year-old son to school when a powerful earthquake struck northern Pakistan and Kashmir. A building collapsed on her. Her right leg was crushed. She was buried for six hours before rescuers dragged her out. But as tomorrow's anniversary of that catastrophe approaches, the 28-year-old from the town of Balakot in North West Frontier Province has cause to wonder whether she would be better off dead.

International aid agencies say hundreds of thousands of people in northern Pakistan are facing a difficult winter, one year after a devastating earthquake killed more than 73,000 people and made over 3.5 million homeless.

On October 8, 2005, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake, centered 95 kilometers northeast of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, struck in the early hours of the morning. Tremors were felt across the region from the Afghan capital, Kabul, to the Indian capital of New Delhi.

CHIKAR, Pakistan - Dozens of girls have been skipping school in this Pakistani Kashmir mountain town, but neither bullies nor boredom is to blame. Teachers say pupils fear being crushed in an earthquake like the one that killed 80,000 people one year ago Sunday.

Among the dead were 34 students of the Government Girls Middle School in Chikar, which collapsed in a heap of rubble and trapped scores of pupils and teachers. Four tents have been raised on top of the ruins to serve as classrooms for some 400 pupils aged 14-16.

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan united in mourning on Sunday in memory of about 73,000 people killed in an earthquake exactly a year ago, while survivors vented frustration over the pace of reconstruction.

Almost two weeks into Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, Pakistan's mosques have been even more crowded than usual. On Sunday, worshippers prayed in unison for the dead and survivors alike to mark the first anniversary of the nation's worst disaster.

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (AFP) - President Pervez Musharraf led Pakistanis in a minute's silence to mourn the first anniversary of the South Asian earthquake, which killed 74,000 people.

Musharraf shunned his military uniform on Sunday and wore a traditional beige smock and trousers known as shalwar kameez for the memorial service in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

MUZAFFARABAD: More tears will be shed on Sunday but there were also signs of hope one year after the earthquake that killed so many people in Azad Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province.

While survivors remain without proper homes, destined to spend a second — and predictably harsher — winter in temporary shelters, the government insists it has done well to tackle the disaster with international help.

Sunday’s first anniversary of the October 8, 2005 earthly blow will be a day of mourning for more than 73,000 people who died and also serve as a day of reckoning for what was done for the rescue, relief and rehabilitation of 3.5 million people made homeless in four districts each of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP.

Despite a widely acclaimed job done by foreign and domestic governmental and non-governmental agencies to lessen the pain of Pakistan’s worst earthquake, government agencies face a storm of complaints ranging from a meagre compensation to delayed payments, costly construction materials, lack of trained work force, corruption and repeated changes of designs of earthquake- resistant dwellings.

Government functionaries, sometimes angered even by well- meaning criticism, have engaged in a lot of self-praise to defend the performance of their agencies.

A host of allegations has marred the relief operation being supervised by the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra).

Non-governmental organisations and independent watchdogs have expressed concern over bureaucratic delays that have hampered the rehabilitation process in the earthquake-devastated areas. But Erra Chairman Altaf Mohammad Saleem insists that, by and large, the relief effort has been smooth, methodically conducted and, above all, transparent.

DADAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - The United States will train 30,000 teachers and build 50 schools in quake affected areas of Pakistan, the U.S ambassador said on Sunday, the first anniversary of an earthquake that killed 73,000 people.

Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker made the announcement during the inauguration by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz of the first school built by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Dadar village in North West Frontier Province.