KARACHI: On 8th day of October, 2005, due to a severe upthrust, a massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake, centered near the city of Muzaffarabad, struck Kashmir.
Tremors of century’s strongest earthquake were also felt in Afghanistan, China and Tajikistan.
The region’s most destructive earthquake had taken a toll of 80,000 men women and children. The most heart-wrecking remembrance of the tragedy was those school children who were trapped in the rubble and lost their lives while shouting and crying for help.
The tremors also left 50,000 people severely injured. Thousands of houses were completely destroyed.
Effects of the earthquake were felt as far as Islamabad where the collapse of ten-storey apartment building Margalla Tower was the most glaring manifestation of the wrath of nature.
One positive thing was that Pakistanis came out in force to support the effected. Reportedly, usual the international aid was usurped by the corrupt bureaucracy and their underlings.
The 14th anniversary of the 2005 earthquake and its victims in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is being observed today.
