Ka shm ir

Ear thq ua ke –
200 5
An a nal ysis of the e vent
Geography 12 IB
By: Chrison Wong

and its consequences

Th e Ea rthquake
 Location: Azad Kashmir –
Pakistan controlled
 Occurred at 8:50am local time
on October 8, 2005
 Magnitude 7.6 on the Richter
scale
 Caused by the Indian Plate
subducting under the Eurasian
Plate
Hu man Factors
 86,000+ dead
 69,000+ injured
 Saturday is a school day in Pakistan – many children
were buried under schools
 Occurred during the month of Ramadan – most people
were asleep after waking up for a pre-dawn meal
Th e Af termath
 $5.2 billion in damages
 Many buildings collapsed
immediately – they were
built at minimal cost and
could not withstand
earthquakes
 Landslides contaminated
rivers, blocked roads and
destroyed buildings which
had survived the initial
quake
 Many communities built on
mountain slopes were
completely wiped out by
landslides
 More than 3 million people
left homeless
Re sp onse
 The Pakistan army was immediately sent to assess damages and
help rescue survivors.
 978 aftershocks with a magnitude >4.0 created dangerous
situations for survivors and rescuers
 Many roads were blocked by landslides, rendering many towns
unreachable
 Rescuers were poorly equipped and had to dig through rubble
with bare hands
 NATO delivered supplies 6 days after the earthquake
 The first foreign medical team arrived 21 days after the
earthquake
 Heavy snowfall started 5 days after the earthquake, which
hindered rescue attempts and threatened the lives of millions of
people left with no shelter
Ka shmir Today
 Aid money has “disappeared” due to corrupt
officials – government compensation checks
bounce
 Tens of thousands of survivors are still
homeless. They have endured multiple
Himalayan winters in tent cities.
 Annual demonstrations are held all over the
region to protest the slow pace of rebuilding,
lack of compensation, inadequate basic
supplies and health services, and government
corruption.
Works Cited
 Bloomberg. (2005). Pakistan, Indian Earthquake Survivors Face Threat From Winter.
<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aQpm_oWgD8kY&refer=top_worl
d_news>
 Bruce, Andrea. (2005). In Kashmir, After the quake, ‘Nothing’.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/17/AR2005121700550.html>
 CNN International. (2005). Millions homeless; storm slows aid.
<http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/10/11/quake.asia/>
 Elnashai, Amr & Willett, Donald. (2006). The Pakistan Earthquake of October 2005: A
Reminder of Human-Science Interaction in Natural Disasters Risk Management.
<http://www.ips.uiuc.edu/ilint/mt/iir/online/2006/11/the_pakistan_earthquake_of_oct.html>
 Naranjo, Laura. (2008). Mapping the Kashmir Earthquake.
<http://nasadaacs.eos.nasa.gov/articles/2008/2008_earthquakes.html>
 Peace Foundation. (2006). Gallery- Muzaffarabad after Earthquake.
<http://www.pf.org.pk/gallery.htm>
 Philp, Catherine. (2005). Thousands at risk of starving in quake aid shortfall.
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article580902.ece>
 Time. (2006). Earthquake Shakes Kashmir Photo Essay.
<http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/earthquake_kashmir/index.html>
 United States Geological Survey. (2006). Earthquake Hazards Program – Magnitude 7.6 –
Pakistan. <http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/eqinthenews/2005/usdyae/#summary>