Kashmir Earthquake8th October 2005

This is another major natural disaster following on from the Tsunami at Christmas 2004

and Hurricane Katrina in August 2005

The 7.6-magnitude earthquake took place on Saturday 8th October at 0925 local time.

The epicentre was Muzzaffarabad the capital of the Pakistan administered region of Kashmir, 80km north-east of Islamabad.

It is thought to be the strongest earthquake to hit the region in a century.

It was followed by 20 powerful aftershocks

“Many villages have been wiped off the face of the earth” President Musharraf

A destroyed military building in Kuri

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4325784.stm

BBC news http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4321490.stm#map

The effects of the earthquake were felt as far away as Lahore

Effects of the earthquake

• An entire generation of young people has been wiped out in the areas worst hit

• Children have been the biggest number of casualties as many had just started lessons when the earthquake struck and were killed when their schools collapsed.

• Children made up half the population of the affected area and were particularly vulnerable, UNICEF has said.

The children and other survivors will be vulnerable to hunger,cold illness and trauma.

“We slept in the open fields last night. There were no tents, no food everything is gone. We all rushed out only to see our house going down in front of our own eyes.”

13 year old pupil

"All official buildings have collapsed"

Landslides have blocked all access roads to Muzaffarabad, where there is no electricity and telephones.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4323008.stm

Aerial photograph of the total devastation

In Balakot, where two schools collapsed, relatives were frantically digging with bare hands for the several hundred children trapped inside.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4323008.stm

Aid needed

President Musharraf appealed for:

“tents, medicines, money and helicopters - the bigger the better”

Why would these items be required ?

Offers of aid Foreign NGOs

e.g. Oxfam, UNICEF, International Red Cross

Foreign governments e.g. U.K, Malaysia

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4321490.stm

• By Sunday some foreign rescue teams had arrived.

• Members of the International Rescue Corps, have used life-detecting sensors to locate a thirteen-year-old boy from under the rubble.

• With thousands already dead, many in Kashmir have been highly critical of the government's relief efforts and say it's too little, too late.

• The international rescue teams are working with specialised equipment such as CO2 sniffers and snake-eye cameras to move through the building.

• They have special listening equipment and specially trained dogs to help them too.

Rescue teams

The once-thriving town of Balakot has suffered extensive damage.

The toll is expected to rise to about 8,000. 70 bodies have been pulled from the wreckage of the collapsed schools, but as many as 650 children may have been buried in the rubble. About 200 soldiers are also thought to have been killed by landslides and falling

debris.

The death toll continues to rise.

How did the earthquake occur

The earthquake in Pakistan is the result of India's long-term, gradual, geological movement north into Asia at a speed of five centimetres a year - a millimetre per week.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4322582.stm

Earthquake animation

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4126809.stm

Interactive maps and linkshttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/

south_asia/4322624.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4327116.stm

The total death toll in the region is thought to be over 20,000

(10th October)

Many are missing feared dead. Many people in the U.K. have relatives in this area. They are desperately trying to get

news of their families.

What can we do ?