1.2.21

Case Studies: The Kashmir Earthquake

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Earthquake in Low Income Country - Kashmir, Pakistan

On the 8th of October 2005, there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 in Pakistan (low-income country).

Illustrative background for Primary effects of the Kashmir earthquakeIllustrative background for Primary effects of the Kashmir earthquake ?? "content

Primary effects of the Kashmir earthquake

  • 79,000 people died and lots of buildings crumbled to the ground.
  • It is hard to find an exact figure, but people estimate that 4 million people became homeless.
  • Infrastructure was damaged. Millions of people had no clean water and no electricity.
Illustrative background for Secondary effects of the Kashmir earthquakeIllustrative background for Secondary effects of the Kashmir earthquake ?? "content

Secondary effects of the Kashmir earthquake

  • Landslides killed people and destroyed towns.
  • Sewage pipes broke. This spread contaminated water and disease.
  • The winter of 2005-2006 was very cold. 4 million people became homeless and lots of the homeless froze to death during the winter.
Illustrative background for Immediate response to the Kashmir earthquakeIllustrative background for Immediate response to the Kashmir earthquake ?? "content

Immediate response to the Kashmir earthquake

  • Charities and foreign governments sent funds, aid workers and helicopters.
  • Charities gave out warm clothes, and tents, but a lot of support took a month to arrive because of the cold weather, damaged infrastructure, and the high number of people affected.
Illustrative background for Long-term response to the Kashmir earthquakeIllustrative background for Long-term response to the Kashmir earthquake ?? "content

Long-term response to the Kashmir earthquake

  • Thousands of people were relocated to new settlements, but 4 million people had been made homeless.
  • The Pakistan government gave people money to try to rebuild their houses and homes, but because they were starving to death, they were forced to spend money on food instead.
  • Thousands of people still lived in tents in 2015, a decade later.
  • The government changed building regulations to try to stop this damage happening again.

Cause of the Kashmir earthquake

  • Running through the middle of Pakistan is a collision plate boundary between the Eurasian and Indian plates, which means that Pakistan is prone to seismic activity.
  • These plates have folded and forced each other upwards to form the Himalayan fold mountain range.
  • The strain at this boundary was suddenly released on 8th October, 2005.

Jump to other topics

1The Challenge of Natural Hazards

1.1Natural Hazards

1.2Tectonic Hazards

1.3Weather Hazards

1.4Climate Change

2The Living World

3Physical Landscapes in the UK

3.1The UK Physical Landscape

3.2Coastal Landscapes in the UK

3.3River Landscapes in the UK

3.4Glacial Landscapes in the UK

4Urban Issues & Challenges

5The Changing Economic World

6The Challenge of Resource Management

6.1Resource Management

6.2Food

6.3Water

6.4Energy

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