Continent-Continent Collisions
2005 Pakistan (Kashmir Region)
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Time: Saturday, October 8, 2005 at 8:50:40 AM Location: 105 km (65 miles) NNE of Islamabad, Pakistan Magnitude: Mw 7.6 Type Of Faulting: Thrust associated with uplift of the Himalayan Mountains Depth: 26 km |
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The many of the faults in the Kashmir region are due to the uplift of the Himalaya Mountains. This quake is considered to be the worst that has ever hit this region. Much of the damage was due to the way the energy was released: directional, that is, the energy was directed in a particular direction, to the north in this case. Poor construction of buildings was an additional problem.
The Muzaffarabad area was particularly hard hit. Entire villages were destroyed in some areas, Landslides and rockfalls destroyed roads, communications, homes, and infrastructure. Keep in mind that this area is in the mountains, so getting help to them quickly became a huge problem.
NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center has a good image gallery of the damages to the area: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazardimages/event/show/27