Tuesday, October 18 2005 16:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Balakot (Pakistan): Mohan Ashraf is heading home with fear in his heart.

Working as a carpenter in Dubai for the last one year, he is one of thousands of men from this poor corner of northwestern Pakistan who have sought work abroad in wealthier countries.

But when a devastating earthquake struck on October 8, destroying phone communications, many abroad were left to wonder whether loved ones had survived.

"I have been trying to get home since I heard the news because I cannot reach my family at all. I am so worried," said Ashraf, 35, who arrived in Balakot after a three-day plane and bus trip.

Heading up a steep mountain path with a black duffel bag slung over his shoulder, Ashraf was making the final part of the trip to his remote village of Keway, accessible only by a three to four hour trek by foot even before the quake.

"I have a big family, five children, seven brothers and three sisters. I cannot stop thinking about them," he said.

In the poverty-stricken mountain villages surrounding Balakot, it is common for many families to have at least one member, a father or perhaps a son, who leaves home to find work outside the country.

Ashraf is just one of scores who have steadily trickled back to Pakistan to find out the fate of their families.

Many of them have been coming from Saudi Arabia or the Gulf nation-states of Qatar or United Arab Emirates where they work in factories, as drivers or even simple laborers.

Though they do not earn much, it is enough to send home 10,000 to 25,000 rupees every few months.

"On our street, five or six neighbours work abroad, mostly in Saudi Arabia," said Firoj Mohammed, 19, of his home village of Sanger, three-hour hikes away. "Four of them have already come back home."

Mohammed said he was trying to contact his brother, who was working in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, to tell him the family had survived although one brother had been seriously injured.

Another worker who had returned, Abdul Rehman, 25, said he had spent the last year in the Saudi city of Medina working as a manual laborer, along with his father.

When the earthquake temblor hit, the pair decided that he would fly back to find out what had happened to their family in the village of Sadbani, a two-hour walk from Balakot. "Now I must call him to tell him that my two daughters have died and the house has been destroyed," Rehman said. "I know he will be very worried about us."

Families in Pakistan have also struggled to contact relatives abroad and send news of their survival. With phonelines down in the devastated town of Balakot for nearly a week, some have had to walk to the closest intact town, Mansehra, 30 kilometres away, to make calls.

Yesterday, a long line of people stood outside the tent of a Pakistani telecom company that was offering free international calls via the Internet.

Firoz Khan, 45, of Kandbangla, said he had managed to call his brother, who has been working in Saudi Arabia as a labourer for three years, the first time they have talked since the quake hit.