Nation Unites to Remember Earthquake Victims

On the first anniversary yesterday of the earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people, Pakistanis united in a spirit of remembrance, aching grief and impatience at the slow pace of reconstruction.

Sirens were sounded across the country at 8.52am - the moment that the 7.6 magnitude quake struck on October 8 2005, collapsing 600,000 buildings, including many schools filled with children. Halfway through the holy month of Ramadan, worshippers crowded into mosques and bent their heads in prayer. In Muzaffarabad, the devastated capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, people stood still in the street while President Pervez Musharraf placed a wreath at a memorial. "With the grace of God, things are heading towards much improvement," he said afterwards.

Gen Musharraf promised that most reconstruction work would be completed by the end of 2008, a target experts consider wildly optimistic. Although the authorities won much praise for the initial emergency and relief phase, reconstruction efforts since have been blighted by delays, bureaucratic hitches and allegations of corruption.

With a second harsh winter just weeks away, hundreds of thousands are still living in tents or rough shelters. Work on rebuilding houses, hospitals and schools has barely started, and criticisms are rising. Yesterday a small crowd marched in Balakot, a town almost entirely levelled by the earthquake which is to be rebuilt in a safer location. Several thousand people demonstrated outside parliament in Islamabad on Saturday.

The government vowed that all new houses in the quake zone would be earthquake-proof but disagreements about an appropriate design has resulted in major delays in rebuilding.