Fear of losing land keeps earthquake survivors rooted to snowed-in villages

MAIDAN, Pakistan -- The snow is waist-deep, food stocks are dangerously low and villagers say the cold has been killing their children since a devastating earthquake three months ago.

But most Pakistanis in the remote northwestern village of Maidan won't be leaving for warmer lowland camps. They have no land deeds and fear moving could cost them their homes.

"This is an undocumented area, and we have no titles to our land," village elder Saleem Khan said.

Land-grab fears also have surfaced elsewhere in the quake zone, relief workers say, keeping survivors high in the mountains where deliveries of food and supplies are rare and perilous.

"One widow left her house for a day, came back and found her brother-in-law had taken over her home after the earthquake, so she was left out in the open," said World Food Program operations manager Keith Ursel. "This is a major reason why people don't want to go."

Like Maidan, about 6,890 feet above sea level, many affected areas are unreachable by road, even during the summer.

Residents of Maidan say they depend on U.N. helicopter food deliveries and have just a little yogurt and maize left. They have started slaughtering livestock -- a prized asset -- to survive.

Villagers lack warm clothes and sturdy footwear. As soon as the sun comes out, children -- coughing and sneezing as they wade through 3-foot-deep snow -- try vainly to dry their shoes and socks.

"We still see many children who are not even adequately dressed, with sometimes only sandals to wear on their feet," said Pete Sykes, Pakistan emergency program manager for the relief agency Save The Children.

Khan, the village elder, said about 30 children have died from the weather since the Oct. 8 temblor. His statement could not be verified.

The village has no doctor, and Khan said a WFP nutritionist was the only medical worker who'd visited in the past three months. It is an eight-hour walk to the nearest road and a two-day hike to the nearest medical facility.

Relief deliveries were suspended when three days of heavy snowstorms struck around Jan. 1. But even a possible halt may not budge Maidan's remaining residents.

Majid Khan, 22, who has worked as a driver in the city of Karachi, said he had only about $50 saved but would not leave his home for fear it would be taken over.

"I'm not going anywhere until all my money and food run out," he said.

The magnitude 7.6 quake damaged about half of Maidan's homes and killed five villagers. Scores of families left what was a village of 5,000 people. Other families have taken over some abandoned wood and mud houses, or raided them for supplies.

Maidan residents say their village began getting aid two months after the quake, which killed about 87,000 people and left 3.5 million homeless in northwestern Pakistan and its portion of Kashmir, a territory also claimed by neighboring India.