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Earthquake in Kashmir 2005
- background info
- Kashmir is
to the
north of
Pakistan.
- it sits on a destructive plate
margin where the Indian plate is
being forced under the Eurasian
plate.
- it is an LEDC
- the earthquake
occured on the 8th
October 2005.
- it happened
at 8:50 local
time and
measured 7.6
on the Richter
scale.
- the focus of the earthquake was only
16 miles deep and the epicentre was
close to Muzaffarabad.
- the earthquake caused a 75km long crack
to form in the earth's surface.
- it caused damage
to an area of
30,000 km2 and
was felt as far
away as Kabul in
Afghanistan and
Delhi in India.
- by the
27th
October
2005, there
had been
over 978
aftershocks
measuring
at least 4
on the
Richter
scale.
- social impacts.
- there were around
80,000 deaths, mostly
because of collapsed
buildings.
- 13th highest
death toll on
record.
- hundreds of thousands of people were
injured, including 6,000 in India.
- 3 million made homeless.
- water pipelines
and electricity
lines were
broken, cutting
off supplies.
- landslides buried
buildings and
people. they also
blocked access to
roads and cut off
water supplies,
electricity supplies
and telephone
lines.
- diarrhoea and
other diseases
spread due to a
lack of clean water.
- freezing winter conditions shortly
after the earthquake caused more
casualties and meant rescue and
rebuilding operations were
difficult.
- only 199
hospitals
still
functioning.
- economic impacts
- it's been
estimated
that the
earthquake
cost
around
US$5
billion in
total.
- whole villages and thousands of buildigns
were destroyed. for example, 80% of Uri was
destroyed.
- in some areas
up to 25km from
the epicentre,
nearly 25%
building collapse
and 50% of
buildings
suffered severe
damage.
- the total cost
of rebuilding
has been
estimated at
US$3.5 billion.
- environmental impacts
- landslides and rockfalls occurred throughout
the region.
- more were relatively
small but there were two
major landslides that
each affected an area of
more than 0.1km2 - one
in Muzaffrabad and one
in the Jhelum valley.
- the Jhelum Valley landslide was
gthe biggest at over 1 km wide,
the debris reached over 2 km
from the top of the slide. the
debris created a dam at the
bottom of the valley, this
blocked two rivers at their
confluence.
- as a result of the earthquake and surface
rupture, the ground shifted by more than 5 m in
some areas of Kashmir.
- the response was delayed in many areas.
- help didn't reach many areas for days or weeks. People had to be
rescued by hand without any equipment or help from emergency
services.
- tents blankets and medical
supplies were distributed within a
month but not to all affected areas.
- the Pakistani government set up the Federal Relief Commission (FRC)
and the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority
(ERRA) to coordinate activities with other international agencies and
NGOs.
- international aid
and equipment
such as helicopters
were brought in, as
well as teams of
people from other
countries.
- around 40,000 people
have been relocated to a
new town, from the
destroyed town of
Balakot.
- the
government
gave money to
people whose
homes had
been
destroyed so
they can
rebuild them.
- new health
centres have
been set up in
the area.
- training has
been provided
to help rebuild
more buildings
as earthquake
resistant.
- there was no hazard management.
- there was no local
disaster planning in
place.
- buildings were not designed to be
earthquake proof. many houses were
structurally poor because people
couldn't afford better buildings.
- however, even government buildings in areas
such as Muzaffarabad were structurally unsound
and so were damaged in the earthquake.
- communications were poor, there were few roads and they were badly
constructed.
- aid and responses.
- $62 billion
pledged by the
government.
- locals tried
to help those
trapped by
buildings.
- military hospitals opened for civilians.
- the government did not request international assistance.
- there was no evacuation procedure in place.