The document summarizes a report about the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. It describes how the 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck northern Pakistan and affected other parts of Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. Over 80,000 people lost their lives and 250,000 lost their homes, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes in Pakistan's history. The earthquake was caused by shifting of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. Areas close to the epicenter, like Muzaffarabad, experienced the strongest shaking and most damage.

1. UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY PESHAWAR
2005 KASHMIR EARTHQUAKE

2. Table Of Contents
Sr No Description
1 Summary
2 Introduction
3 Body
4 Conclusion

3. 1. Summary
In this report you will see about the devastating earthquake of 2005. You will know
about the details of the earthquake. The causes of the earthquake i.e. what were the
geological phenomenas which were responsible for this earthquake. The different
regions which got effected due to this shaking both in Pakistan and out of it. We
will look at the casualties and the damages of the earthquake and the main reasons
behind these casualties and damages.
At last we will have short note on the varous induce effects of the disaster.
2. Introduction
Like every normal day the day on October 8th ,2005 started as well. The Muazzin
called his azan, the birds were chirping in their beautiful and heart touching tone,
the cocks started to crow when there is light started appearing. The farmer left to
the fields and the students went to their schools. Likewise the peoples from
different realm went to fullfill their duties but no body at that time was aware of the
natural disaster in the form of an earthquake which was about to come after an hour
or two.
On October 8th, 2005 earthquake took place on 8:51 am with a gigantic Richter’s
scale magnitude of 7.6 which shook the whole Kashmir region along with different
sections of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.
This was one of the strongest shaking taken place in Pakistan’s history which causes
a very large loss and destruction.
Here we will see in detail about the Kashmir earthquake, the destruction caused by
the shaking, the number of casualties caused and so on. Despite the destruction of
infrastucture this devastating earthquake took the lives of more than 80,000 peoples
along with 250,000 peoples who lost their dwells. This earthquake is called
deadliest earthquake in Pakistan’s history.
Depth Of The Earthquake
The depth of 2005 earthquake was about 15km.

4. Epicenter Of The Earthquake
The devastating earthquake struck at 8:51 am with its epicenter located 12 miles
notheast of Muzaffarabad, the administrative centre of Pakistan administrated Azad
Kashmir.
3. Body
a. Seismic Fault Responsible For The Earthquake
Fault
“Fault is a fracture or zone of fracture between two blocks of rocks.
Falults allow the blocks to move relative to each other. During the
earthquake these faults slips with respect to each other”.
We know that Kashmir is located at the collison point of Indian and
Eurasion tectonic plates. The collison of these two tectonic plates also
form the Himalaya mountains. Just because of this Kashmir is the
seismic prone region.

5. On October 8, 2005 the shifting of these Indian and Eurasian tectonic
plates were responsible for the earthquake. Most of the earthquakes
take place in the South Asia is due to collison of the Indian and
Eurasian plates, which frequently results from the northwest motion
of the Indian plate at the rate of 4-5cm per year. Due to this collision
the indian plate has fractured into several slices beneath the Kashmir
Basin and is known as Indus-Kohistan seismic zone. The main
identified feature in this zone is the Balakot-Bagh fault which is likely
the source of the earthquake. The Northwest-striking Balakot-Bagh
fault, which had been mapped by the geological survey of Pakistan
prior to the earthquake but had not been recognized as active except
for 16km section near Muzzafarabad. The fault follows the Indus-
Kohistan seismic zone but can cross and locally offset the Hazara-
Kashmir syntaxis defined by the mian boundary and Panjal thrusts.
Not individually the main frontal thurst and main boundary thurst is
responsible for the earthquake of 2005 but the three active or fault
segments within the sub Himalaya , collectively called Balakot Bagh
fault.

6. Surface Rupture Of 2005 Kashmir, Pakistan Eathquake
b. Ground Shaking
“Ground shaking is the movement of the ground due to collision or
rupturing of the tectonic plates. The first main earthquake hazard is the
effects of ground shaking. Due to this shaking the infrastructure can
damage”.
We know that the ground shaking is intense near the source of an
earthquake and it goes on decreasing with the distance increase from
the source of the earthquake. As we know that the earthquake was
centerd in Muzzafarabad therefore the shaking of the ground in
Kashmir at Muzzafarabad was the frightening.

7. Just next to the Balakot Bagh fault India is located and alos the distance
between Afghanistan and the fault is also not too long so, in addition
to the areas of Kashmir the shaking was also experianced in other areas
of Pakista, Afghanistan and India as well.
Kashmir is located in the region of mountains and the seismic
movement amplifies in valleys and at the top of the mountains.
In Pakistan along with Muzaffarabad the capital of Pakistan Islamabad
was also shook in a terrible way. You can observe the distribution in
more clear way in the picture.

8. Distribution Of Shaking Of 2005 Earthquake In Pakistan
As we know that Charle’s Richter in California and Wadati in Japan in
1930 noticed that for every earthquake the decrease in amplitude as we
move away from the source occur in the same manner.
Thus we can say that due to the short distance the shaking also took
place in some of the areas of India and Afgahnistan.
a. Region Of Maximum Ground Shaking
The maximum ground shaking region due to 2005 earthquake was that
region of Kashmir which include Muzzafarabad, Bagh and Rawalkot
in Kashmir.
While in Pakistan the region of Khyber Pakhtunkha including
Batagram, Mansehra, Abbotabad, Balakot, Muree and Islamabd was
the maximum ground shaking region.
In this earthquake the maximum shaking region which was intensity
of XI on the modified Mercalli intensity scale and on environmentl
seismic intensity scale was recorded in the epicentral area between
Muzzafarabad and Balakot. Extremely severe damage and very
important secondary environmental effects in the hanging wall
adjacent to the trace of the casultive fault plane are mainly due to the
near fault strong motion and rupture directivity effects. At least 112km
long surface rupture was mapped along the Kashmir Thrust. The
maximum values of of vertical displacement were observed mainly

9. between Muzzafarabad and Balakot, along the central segment of the
rupture(52km) associated with the maximum slip.

10. Based on the destruction in balakot it was given the intensity of X
(Extremely devastating). Many buildings were destroyed in
Muzzafarabd. The major destruction in Balakot was observed which
representing complete destruction of more than 1 meter dislocation of
the concrete bridge over Balakot river.
On the basis of scale the Intensity of Muzzafarabad is IX
(Devastating).
Abbotabad was estimated to be VIII( Very Destructive). Similarly
Mansehra was given the intensity of VIII . The different regions of
Punjab like Lahore was given the intensity of VI(Very strong).
Region Intensity Intensity
Balakot 10.00 X
Muzaffarabad 9.00 IX
Kashmir 6.00 VI
Punjab(Lahore) 6.00 VI
Mansehra 8.00 VIII
Abbotabad 8.00 VIII
10.00
9.00
6.00 6.00
8.00 8.00
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
Balakot Muzaffarabad Kashmir Punjab Mansehra Abbotabad
Intensity
or
Shaking
Region
Different Ground Shaking Regions Due To Kashmir Earthquake
2005

11. b. Geology Of The Affected Region
The region which got exposure to the deveastating earthquake of 2005
is located in Northern region of Pakistan. The center of the earthquake
i.e. Muzzafarabad is a part of the Western Himalaya.
The Himalayan region is the very well known region which is formed
after the collision of Eurasion and Indian tectonic plates. The region
due to the unstability of the plates is the earthquake prone region.
There are high mountains and rigid rocks are in this region.
We know that Northern areas of Pakistan is composed of main
tectonostrarigraphic terranes, the Asian plate to north. An Indian plate
to the south and the Kohistan island are sandwiched between the
Kohistan arc is seperated from the Asian plate by the northern structure
and from the indian plate by the main mantle.
The Asian plate Karakoram can be divided into the Northern
sedimentary terrane of Paleozoic(Permian) and Mesozoic(Triassic)
formation.
The Indian plate is further subdivided into three tectonic plates or
tectonic units
 An internal metmorphosal unit
 An external meatamorphosal
 The foreland basin sediments

12. c. Reasons For The Larege Damages And Associated
Casualties
The 2005 earthquake was a major earthquake centered in Pakistan-
administrated Kashmir known as Azad Kashmir, near the city of
Muzaffarabad. Being the earthquake of terrifying magnitude of 7.6 it
was much more capable for the gigantic destruction. This earthquake
not only affected Pakistan but some of the areas of India and
Afghanistan were in the exposure of the earthquake. Most of the
casualties resulting from the earthquake were in Pakistan. The official
confirmed death toll was about 74,698, putting it higher than the
massive scale of destruction of the 1935 Quetta earthquake.
International donors have estimated that about 86,000 died but this has
not been confirmed or endorsed by Pakistani authorities.
Reasons For Large Number Of Casualties
Some of the reasons for the large casualties are
 It was normal Saturday like other days. Peoples
were busy in their works and most of the students
were in the schools and according to the survey out
of the total casualties 19000 were the students or
the childrens of different schools buried in debris.
 The second reason for the large number of
casualties is that most of the peoples in Pakistan

13. during the month of Ramazan used to stay awake
upto pre-dawn meal (SEHRI) and after the fajr
prayer they used to take their bed rest.
Unfortunately on that time it was also Ramazan
and peoples were napping after the Sehri suddenly
the earthquake hitted the region and they burried
under the structures.
 After the earthquake there were so many
aftershocks. Among these after shocks there were
of magnitude 5.9, 5.8 and 6.4. These aftershocks
also caused the death of many inhabitants.
Reasons For Larege Number Of Damges
Here now we will see some of the main reasos fot the larege damages due to the
earthquake.
 With the referance to civil engineering we know that stone masonry buildings
don’t resist the earthquake in an efficient way as compare to brick masonry
buildings. In most of the areas of Kashmir and also in some area of KPK like
Mansehra there are mostly construction are based on stone masonry. Thus
sotne masonry is one of the cause for the larege damages.
 In addition to stone masonry buildings there are also Adobe buildings in these
regions which are also not efficienta against the earthquake.
 In additon to the type of the building some induces effects of the earthquke
were also responsible for the lareger damages like Landslide and rock falling.
Land Sliding
Land sliding is the movement of larege soil mass of soil, rock or other materials
which slide down the slopes of mountains or cliff. This occur due to the
destabilization of the soil due to heavy rainfall or the extreme ground shaking that
is earthquake.
In this case land sliding along the rupture zone were very high which caused the
damge of structures, roads, bridges and so on.
Rock Falling
Like the landsliding rock fall after the earthquake was also the main reason for the
large damages. This involve the falling of huge rocks and stones which resulted in
considerable damage and disruption of roadways structure and comminitie.

14. Abode Building In Kashmir (Source: PINTREST)
Abode Building In Balakot (Source:DAWN )

15. Conclusion
I will conclude my report by this thought that every disaster either
earthquake or something else they are natural and alomost out of the
control of men. But we can minimize the hazards of these disasters by
early arrangements.
For example if I take the example of Kashmir earthquake the large number
of casualties were due to structural damages mostly,that is the strength
and durability of the structues were not adequate strong to withstand with
the shaking. Instead of stone and adobe buildings if there were RCC
buildings then most of the people could have survived.