Earthquake Diary – The People of Wales School 

Penarth GP helps earthquake villagers to rebuild their lives

BBC Wales film to show school progress

When a devastating earthquake hit Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan just over a year ago, GP Dr Khan Nawab Khan from the Stanwell Surgery, Stanwell Road in Penarth saw the destruction at first hand. 

Now a BBC Wales film – shot by Dr Khan himself – is set to show his work alongside the Khanbahadur Lallbibi Welfare Trust to help rebuild a school in a remote village.

Six months after the earthquake, having helped to raise thousands of pounds, he returned to the remote Bhunja Valley – a lung-bursting 5,500 feet above sea-level.

“I remember the first time I visited,” says Dr Khan, who lives near Roath Park in Cardiff .  “It was absolutely devastating.  In the early days you could actually smell the bodies as you walked round the rubble. 

“It’s still very upsetting.  Every house has been affected, every family has been affected – yet I haven’t heard a word of complaint.  People are just getting on with their lives.”

Earthquake Diary – The People of Wales School – to be shown on BBC 2W on Tuesday 9 January at 10.10pm – shows Dr Khan surveying the rubble of the village’s former school under which eight children were crushed to death.

He then had to find a way to transport a temporary replacement structure up a mountainside where virtually every road and path has been blocked by landslides.

Dr Khan’s moving film also features pupils from Rhydypennau Primary School in Cardiff who helped to raise more than £2,000 for KLWT’s work.

“Our work wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity of the people of Wales ,” says Dr Khan.

Earthquake Diary was made with the help of BBC Wales’s Video Nation team, who enable members of the public to make television programmes by videoing their everyday lives.

(Watch full video clip)