Table of Contents
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
- Twenty-six people died and over 300 were injured after an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale hit Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir’s Mirpur.
- The epicentre of the earthquake was 140 kilometres from Srinagar at the depth of 10 kilometres, the United States Geological Survey reported.
MANGLA DAM ‘SAFE’
- Mangla Dam – a multipurpose dam located on the Jhelum River in the Mirpur District of PoK
- Dam was opened in 1965
- Mangla Dam was constructed at a cost of Rs. 15.587 billion (US$1.473 billion) with the funding being provided by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank
- It is the seventh largest dam in the world. (Pakistan claims)
WHAT PMO SAID
TREMORS FELT IN INDIA
- Tremors were felt as far as New Delhi, while the Press Trust of India reported that panicked people rushed out of their homes and offices in panic in several places, including in Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana.
BAD MEMORIES FROM THE PAST
- A magnitude 7.6 quake in 2005 killed thousands of people in Pakistan and Kashmir.
BAD MEMORIES FROM THE PAST
- On 8 October 2005, a devastating magnitude7.6 earthquake struck the Kashmir region in the Himalaya. It killed more than 80,000 people, injured more than 100,000, and left 3 million homeless.
- One of the worst natural disasters in South Asia
WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?
- Kashmir lies in the area of collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. The geological activity born out of this collision, also responsible for the birth of the Himalayan mountain range, is the cause of unstable seismicity in the region.
PANGEA
THE IMPACT EURASIAN AND INDIAN TECTONIC PLATES
- The Himalayas are still rising by more than 1 cm per year as India continues to move northwards into Asia.
- However, the forces of weathering and erosion are lowering the Himalayas at about the same rate. The Himalayas and Tibetan plateau trend east-west and extend for 2,900 km, reaching the maximum elevation of 8,848 meters.
WHEN WILL THIS END?
- 2012 study revealed
WHAT CAN WE DO?
- India and Pakistan should resolve differences and normalise ties
- Build proper infrastructure around Kashmir region that can help sustain mega Earthquakes
LESSONS FROM THE PAST
- The Pakistani military provided significant aid to India after the 2001 Gujarat earthquake.
- In 2005 a powerful earthquake struck both India and Pakistan, also prompting cooperative relief efforts. Indian fixed-wing aircraft flew relief supplies and equipment to Pakistan, and New Delhi channeled $25 million through a United Nations fundraising program in order to support Pakistani relief efforts.
LESSONS FROM THE PAST
- 2010 floods Pakistan
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