Kashmir Earthquake 2005

CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls School

Geography Natural Disaster Report

(Term 1) 2010



Earth has been moving and shaking indifferently for the past billions of years. One of Earth’s sudden movements had resulted in the major earthquake that struck the Pakistan-administered Kashmir on the 8 of October 2005 at 08.05am local time. The earthquake, of Magnitude Mw = 7.6, had caused damage and casualties over an area of 30 000km2 in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) province of Pakistan administered Kashmir. The epicenter of the deadly earthquake was located at a latitude of 34 degrees Celsius 29’35” N and longitude of 73 degrees Celsius 37’44E. The major earthquake was then followed by roughly 978 aftershocks of a Magnitude Mw = 4.0 and above, as of 27 October, 2005.

The earthquake was believed to be the 13th most deadly earthquake in recent history. There were more than 80 000 casualties, 200 000 injured and more than 4 million victims left homeless. The impact of the earthquake was estimated to be to be greater than the tsunami that happened in December, 2004. Most of the buildings which were mainly stone or block masonry buildings had collapsed and about half of the buildings were severely damaged.

After getting to know the situation, many governments of different countries reached out to give Pakistan a helping hand:

- The United States of America had donated 272 million to help in relief efforts

- Turkey helped to transport relief goods to the affected areas

- The United Kingdom set up a charity organization to help those affected

- Russia helped in rescue efforts

- The Lions Club International and the Lions Club donated 892 000

Experts have found out that the radioactive decay which is happening deep in the Earth is the source of heat driving the convections currents beneath the African and Indian plate. This resulted in the Indian and the Eurasian Plate to become converging plates, pushing against each other, causing the Kashmir earthquake.

I feel that people in earthquake-prone areas should take certain measures to protect themselves against the effects of earthquakes. Earthquake drills probably should be conducted by the government frequently in earthquake-prone areas, so that people would be familiarized with the emergency procedures and during a real earthquake, people would know what to do. Adequate shelters, medicine and food should also be stored in an emergency kit that can last up 2 weeks should any earthquake occur. Civil Defence units should be well-maintained have a source of water and radios to ensure efficient rescues after any disaster strikes. Seismographs, machines which can detect earthquakes, should be checked often to make sure that they show accurate predictions of potential earthquakes, alerting authorities to immediately evacuate the people as soon as a potential earthquake is predicted.

Bibliography:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Muzaffarabad&printable=yes

- http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2005/usdyae/

- http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/2005/eq_051008_dyae/neic_dyae_nr.html

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wikip/File:Earthquake_Information_for_Pakistan.gif

- Asian Development Bank

- http://library.thinkquest.org/17701/high/effects/fxqprevent.html



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