Pakistan Earthquake 2005

Covering the earthquake, the damage and the relief work in Pakistan.

Aftermath

Artificial lakes may flood Kashmir areas

The artificial lakes that shaped as a result of the devastating earthquake that hit Pakistan last year may sink the nearby areas as water level in these lakes is dangerously rising.

The Karli Lake, some 60km from Muzaffarabad and the other near Hattian Bala are a threat to over 50,000 people living in nearby villages including Hafiz Bandi, Bani Hafiz, Sukh Naina, Chakli, Pano Bindi and Saleemia.

In the coming months the ice melting on the high altitude mountains may increase the water level as embankments of these lakes already brimming due to landslides, official sources here say.

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Relief Camps Shut Before Villages Are Rebuilt

The Pakistan government has come under scathing criticism from relief organisations for its recent decision to close down relief camps for the survivors of the massive earthquake last year which killed close to 73,000 people.

Twenty five camps in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and five in Pakistan administered Kashmir were closed by Apr. 9. The inmates were left with no option but to return to devastated villages, still without basic facilities and housing.

The Oct. 8 earthquake, 7.6 on the Richter scale, collapsed mountains, altered the course of waterways and reduced entire villages to rubble. Some 400,000 houses were destroyed. Most roads, schools and hospitals in the affected areas either collapsed or are unusable.

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Pakistan quake zone still in ruins six months on

Earthquake survivors in Pakistan on Saturday were to mark six months since the disaster that killed more than 73,000 people, with reconstruction yet to start in most of the devastated area.

In the northwestern town of Balakot, that rebuilding work is never even going to happen. Authorities said last week they will relocate the ruined city and have banned further construction because it lies directly on a fault line. With around 90 percent of once-scenic Balakot’s houses, schools and shops reduced to rubble, residents living in tents are asking what they are meant to do for the next five or so years while the new town is built.

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Earthquake-proof certificates to be imposed in Rawalpindi Cantt

The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board has made it compulsory to get an earthquake-proof certificate prior to construction of new houses, shops and plazas in Cantt.

All construction engineers approved by the Pakistan Engineering Council will be able to issue these certificates for a fee of Rs 5,000 for five Marlas of land Rs 10,000 for 10 Marlas of land. Meanwhile, the Station Commander of the Cantonment Board, Sajjad Azam, on the recommendation of Executive Officer, Rafique Sial and Secretary Mian Mudassar Khan has aborted the motion to issue certificates for smaller houses.

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Six months after earthquake, real work is just beginning

Six months after the devastating October 8 earthquake, the worst is over but the real hard work is just beginning, Dan Toole, the head emergency programmes for the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday.

Although people are starting to return to their villages to begin the task of rebuilding their shattered lives, tens of thousands are still in camps and time is running out, he told Reuters on a visit to London after visiting the stricken area.

“We may be six months on from the earthquake and through a mercifully mild winter, but there is still the monsoon to come and the next winter is only seven months away,” Toole said.

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Earthquake victims in Lahore leave for AJK and NWFP

Earthquake victims living in Lahore on the Punjab government’s invitation left for their native areas on Monday.

Saba Sadiq, adviser to the Punjab chief minister on social welfare, saw the 85 families off on the chief minister’s behalf at the Social Welfare Complex.

She also addressed the farewell ceremony, saying the Punjab had again played a role in helping people and had hosted the victims for four months. She said each family was also given three months of rations including flour, rice, oil, sugar, tea, milk powder, grains, pulses and spices. She also said every victim was given Rs 1,000.

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Balakot to be relocated

Pakistan is to rebuild the city of Balakot in a completely new location after it was razed by last year’s Kashmir earthquake.

The city, home to 300,000 people before the quake, will be rebuilt in a safer location to modern design standards.

Pakistan also announced that it will shift focus from relief efforts to begin the rebuilding of devastated towns and villages on 7 April.

More than 73,000 people died and three million lost homes in the earthquake.

Balakot is currently located on a major geological fault line about 200km (120 miles) north of the country’s capital, Islamabad.

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Insurance Companies received 15 claims against quake damage

Insurance companies in Islamabad have so far received 15 claims against damage caused by the October 8 earthquake to residential buildings, sources told Daily Times.

“About 15 or 16 insurance claims have been received in Islamabad,” said the general manger of a leading insurance firm on condition of anonymity.

The quake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit Pakistan on October 8, causing widespread damage. Its epicentre was located 100 kilometres north of Islamabad. According to sources in the insurance industry, each claim varies between Rs 200,000 to Rs 500,000 – depending on the intensity of the damage to the buildings mentioned in the claims.

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