2005 Kashmir earthquake
On October 8, 2005 at 8:50:38 local time (03:50:38 UTC ), an earthquake struck Kashmir . The epicenter was in the Asad Kashmir region administered by Pakistan near the regional capital Muzaffarabad (coordinates 34 ° 25 ′ 55 ″ N , 73 ° 32 ′ 13 ″ E ). The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 km below the earth's surface. The American United States Geological Survey gave the magnitude 7.6 and the Japanese Meteorological Authority gave 7.8 on the Richter scale , which roughly corresponds to the intensity of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake . It is considered to be the worst in the South Asian region, which has been hit by numerous earthquakes for 100 years. In the region, the Indian plate is pushing its way onto mainland Asia at a speed of around 8 cm / year. The Hindu Kush mountains have piled up over millions of years . The affected region is about 95 km northeast of Islamabad and, in addition to Asad Kashmir, also includes areas in what was then the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa .
consequences
The quake caused devastation in northern Pakistan , Afghanistan and northern India . It opened a rift about 100 km long, along which almost all buildings were destroyed. Numerous villages were literally razed to the ground.
The Pakistani government initially estimated the number of earthquake victims in their country in November 2005 at up to 83,750. There were also around 1,300 fatalities in India. As far as we know today (as of 2019), a total of more than 73,000 people died from the earthquake.
International reactions
Many states, international organizations and non-governmental organizations offered the region aid in the form of money, food, medical equipment, tents and blankets. At the same time, rescue and recovery workers were sent to the region from different parts of the world; they also brought helicopters and rescue dogs with them. The United Nations had called for fundraising to raise at least US $ 272 million for the people in the region.
Cuba sent around 600 doctors to the region. According to amerika21.de , the Cuban doctors were the only ones who dared to venture into the extremely difficult terrain high in the mountains. They stayed even after everyone else had left. In four months they cared for around 300,000 patients.
A small part of the reconstruction was carried out in a vernacular construction , whereby the traditional forms of construction dhajji dewari ( wooden framework filled with stones or bricks) and bhatar (or taq , stone masonry with horizontally inserted wooden beams as tie rods) were used.
literature
- Pascale Schild: Everyday life after the earthquake. A political ethnography of the reconstruction in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan . transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2019, ISBN 978-3-8376-4715-0 .
- Iffat Idris: Earthquake - 8/10, Learning from Pakistan's Experience . National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Islamabad 2007.
- Syed Ehtesham Husain: Post-Earthquake Reconstruction Scenario in the Rural Northern Areas (NWFP) of Pakistan. 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Beijing 2008.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI): The Kashmir earthquake of October 8, 2005: Impacts in Pakistan . February 28, 2006, accessed June 11, 2019.
- ↑ Pascale Schild: Everyday life after the earthquake. A political ethnography of the reconstruction in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan . transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2019, p. 15.
- ↑ Farooq Tariq: Workers Aid Campaign after the Earthquake. In: Inprekorr. 2006, accessed June 13, 2010 .
- ↑ Miguel Bonasso: Cuba is not alone. (No longer available online.) In: amerika21. Archived from the original on June 14, 2010 ; Retrieved June 13, 2010 .
- ↑ Randolph Langenbach: Of Taq and Dhajji Dwari: The Earthquake Resistant Mud and Brick Architecture of Kashmir. In: Traditional Southwest Magazine, February 5, 1992