Case Studies: The Kashmir Earthquake
Geography: AQA GCSE, topic 1.2.21
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Test yourself on Case Studies: The Kashmir Earthquake
What were the primary effects of the Kashmir earthquake in October, 2005?
What was the magnitude of the earthquake in Kashmir in October, 2005?