Kashmir : When The Mountains Moved

Kashmir : The Basics

Kashmir is the NorthWestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Kashmir refers to a large area that includes the regions of Kashmir valley, Jammu and Ladakh. Kashmir State also incorporates the Pakistani occupied parts of Poonch, Rawalakot, Muzafarabad, Jammu, Gilgit and Baltistan regions and also incorporates the China occupied part of Aksai Chin. The main "Vale of Kashmir" is a low-lying fertile region surrounded by magnificent mountains and fed by many rivers. It is renowned for its natural beauty and quaint lifestyle.
The region is divided among three countries in a bitter territorial dispute. Pakistan controls the northwest portion and Azad Kashmir, India controls the central and southern portion, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, and the People's Republic of China controls the northeastern portion, Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract.

Kashmir : The Aftermath

The Kashmir earthquake (also known as the South Asia earthquake or Pakistan earthquake) of 2005, was a major earthquake whose epicenter was the Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The earthquake occurred at 08:50:38 Pakistan Standard Time (03:50:38 GMT) on October 8, 2005. It registered a minimum magnitude of 7.6 on the moment magnitude scale making it a major earthquake similar in intensity to the 1935 Quetta earthquake and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. As of 8 November, the Pakistani government's official death toll was 79,297, while officials say nearly 1,400 people died in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Most of the affected people lived in mountainous regions with access impeded by landslides that blocked the roads, leaving an estimated 3.3 million homeless in Pakistan. The UN reported that more than 4 million people were directly affected, prior to the commencement of winter snowfall in the Himalayan region. It is estimated that damages incurred are well over US$ 5 billion (30 billion Pakistani rupees) 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.
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.

Most of the casualties resulting from the earthquake were in Pakistan where the official confirmed death toll is 86,276, putting it higher than the massive scale of destruction of the Quetta earthquake of May 31 , 1935.
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 during the earthquake. Reports indicate that entire towns and villages were completely wiped out in Northern Pakistan with other surrounding areas also suffering severe damage.

"...a second, massive wave of death will happen if we do not step up our efforts now", Kofi Annan said on 20 October with reference to the thousand remote villages in which people are in need of medical attention, food, clean water and shelter and the 120,000 survivors that have not yet been reached.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz "made the appeal to survivors" on 26 October to come down to valleys and cities for relief, because bad weather, mountainous terrain, landslides and blocked roads are making it difficult for relief workers to reach each house and the winter snows are imminent.