Earthquake 08-10-2005

 The 2005 Kashmir earthquake occurred at 08:50:39 Pakistan Standard Time on 8 October in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir. It was centred near the city of Muzaffarabad, and also affected nearby Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some areas of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. It registered a moment magnitude of 7.6 and had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). The earthquake also affected countries in the surrounding region where tremors were felt in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, India and China's Xinjiang region. The severity of the damage caused by the earthquake is attributed to severe upthrust. Kashmir lies in the area of collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. The geological activity born out of this collision, also responsible for the birth of the Himalayan mountain range, is the cause of unstable seismicity in the region. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured its magnitude as a minimum of 7.6 on the moment magnitude scale, with its epicentre about 19 km (12 mi) northeast of Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir, and 100 km (62 mi) north-northeast of the national capital Islamabad.

Damage:
Kashmir, the three main districts were badly affected and Muzaffarabad, the state capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, was hardest hit in terms of casualties and destruction. Hospitals, schools, and rescue services including police and armed forces were paralysed. There was virtually no infrastructure and communication was badly affected. More than 70% of all casualties were estimated to have occurred in Muzaffarabad. Bagh, the second-most-affected district, accounted for 15% of the total casualties.

The Pakistani government's official death toll as of November 2005 stood at 87,350 although it is estimated that the death toll could reach over 100,000. Approximately 138,000 were injured and over 3.5 million rendered homeless. According to government figures, 19,000 children died in the earthquake, most of them in widespread collapses of school buildings. The earthquake affected more than 500,000 families. In addition, approximately 250,000 farm animals died due to the collapse of stone barns, and more than 500,000 large animals required immediate shelter from the harsh winter.

As Saturday is a normal school day in the region, most students were at schools when the earthquake struck. Many were buried under collapsed school buildings. Many people were also trapped in their homes and because it was the month of Ramadan, most people were taking a nap after their pre-dawn meal and did not have time to escape. Reports indicate that entire towns and villages were completely wiped out in northern Pakistan, with other surrounding areas also suffering severe damage.
After shocks:
There were many secondary earthquakes in the region, mainly to the northwest of the original epicentre. A series of strong aftershocks occurred near Muzaffarabad.[14] As of 27 October 2005[15] there had been more than 978 aftershocks with a magnitude of 4.0 and above that continued to occur daily. Since then, measurements from satellites have shown that mountain parts directly above the epicenter have risen by a few meters, giving ample proof that the rising of the Himalayas is still going on, and that this earthquake was a consequence of that.
Responce and Recovery:
The earthquake affected a population of approximately 3.5 million people either directly or indirectly, and the logistics of administering aid and re- lief efforts have been extremely daunting. In addition to the staggering numbers of deaths, the human cost includes amputees, orphans, unhygienic conditions resulting in disease, and severe malnutrition. The early days of the disaster response were marked by uncoordinated efforts among a whole host of organizations involved in relief work.There was little information on who was doing what and little oversight. A coordinating structure was later created by the government under the Federal Relief Commission (FRC) and the ERRA (Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Authority) to coordinate activities with other international agencies and NGOs. According to the World Bank, the relief work will cost $2 billion. According to another estimate, approximately 0.5 million tents, 3.5 million blankets, 60,000 tons of food, and 3,000 tons of medicine have been required.

Shelter strategy was organized around three populations: people who lived in houses in the lower elevations, people living in higher elevations who could come to the lower elevations, and people living in inaccessible snowline areas (5,000-7,000 feet). People in the former two categories were provided with tented villages managed by some agency. People in the last category were not compelled to descend to the tented villages. Survivors are being taught to build transitional shelter using material from retrieved debris, reinforced with locally available materials such as timber and hay in addition to the corrugated galvanized iron (CGI) sheets provided to them.