where once there were houses

the date of the quake stands on a fallen bridge between the town we
visited and those closer to the epicenter who couldnt be reached so easily.

sandles amongst the rubble

what appeared to be a childs bed in a house that stood close by the school
that survived. both were right along a fault line.

where houses once stood. the above photos were taken just to the left
of this image.

further along the fallen bridge

the school that survived along a fault line. had it been built a few metres
forward it would not have.

the remaining parts of the church built around 100 years ago by the french.

the blue shelters that people who lost their homes are now living in. there
are a lot of these. the shelters are in blocks of between 50 - 100 or more units
and look something like army barracks. these blue shelter communities are
scattered throughout the towns and villages that were worst hit. we saw close
to a thousand of these shelters. at lunch time, what looked like everyone living
in that block of shelters had come out to eat together, lining the street.
my guess is that they do this every meal time.