8 oct 2005 earthquake Date Saturday 8 October 2005— 3 Ramadan 1426 AH Magnitude 7.6 Mw Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) Epicenter 34°29′35″N 73°37′44″ECoordinates: 34°29′35″N 73°37′44″E Areas affected Pakistan, India, Afghanistan Casualties 100,000 dead (18th deadliest earthquake of all time) 138,000 injured 3.5 million displaced The 2005 Kashmir earthquake occurred at 08:52:37 Pakistan Standard Time on 8 October in the Kashmir region of South Asia. It was centered in Pakistan-administered Kashmir , near the city of Muzaffarabad, and also affected Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It registered a moment magnitude of 7.6 making it similar in size to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the 1935 Quetta earthquake, the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, and the 2009 Sumatra earthquakes. As of 8 November, the government of Pakistans official death toll was 75,000. The earthquake also affected countries in the surrounding region where tremors were felt in Tajikistan and western China, while officials say nearly 1,400 people also died in Jammu and Kashmir and four people in neighboring Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. The severity of the damage caused by the earthquake is attributed to severe upthrust, coupled with poor construction. Well over US$ 5.4 billion (400 billion Pakistani rupees)[2] in aid arrived from all around the world. US Marine and Army helicopters stationed in neighbouring Afghanistan quickly flew aid into the devastated region along with five CH-47 Chinook helicopters from the Royal Air Force that were deployed from the United Kingdom. Five crossing points were opened on the Line of Control (LoC), between India and Pakistan, to facilitate the flow of humanitarian and medical aid to the affected region, and aid teams from different parts of Pakistan and around the world came to the region to assist in relief. It was extremely shocking and traumatic as what happened on the morning of October 08, 2005: an earthquake befell as a cataclysmic event in Pakistan’s history to be remembered for a very long to come. So many people were still asleep when suddenly they were jolted awake. All at once they began screaming from houses and apartment blocks, confounded and staggering as repeated quakes of 7.6 on the Richter scale rocked the earth. It was Saturday, just before 9 a.m. By the time people came to their senses, the phone network was totally jammed. The sweep of death and destruction across a vast swathe of territory from Kashmir to Hazara, Swat and Islamabad was heart-rending. The most powerful quake to hit the region in 100 years killed thousand of people and caused massive destruction in northern Pakistan and areas close to its epicenter, which was in Azad Kashmir some 95 Kilometers northeast of the federal capital. The collapse of a 10-storey apartment complex in Islamabad gripped the entire nation, as thousands of people rushed to the scene to rescue those trapped in the rubble. While the country was still reeling from the tragedy in Islamabad, another rude awakening was just around the corner. With news slowly trickling down from different areas, soon the news spread that Azad Kashmir had been the worst hit, followed by NWFP, next to the Afghan border. The next day brought terrible pain and anguish to yet more many people of Azad Kashmir who had gone to work in the big cities but returned to their home villages to find them razed to the ground. The devastating earthquake hit the residents of Azad Kashmir in many ways. Unlike Muzzafarabad and Bagh districts, the disaster had stolen shelter virtually from every single inhabitant of Rawalakot.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 05:37:58 +0000