Two children wait to get relief at the border village of Jula, about 100 kilometres north of Srinagar, India, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
INDEPTH: SOUTH ASIA QUAKE Introduction CBC News Online | October 12, 2005
The earthquake struck shortly after 9 a.m. local time on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2005, just as schoolchildren in the Pakistani town of Balakot were starting their morning lessons. Across the country’s northeast the massive quake flattened villages and city apartment blocks, killing tens of thousands and leaving about 2.5 million people homeless.
The 7.6-magnitude quake was centred about 95 km northeast of Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, in the disputed region of Kashmir, and was felt from Afghanistan to Bangladesh. Twenty-two aftershocks followed, including a 6.2 temblor.
As the rescue effort got underway, desperate families dug through rubble looking for loved ones. Overwhelmed doctors and nurses struggled to treat the injured and warned of the spread of disease as dazed survivors buried the dead. Days later, many communities had still not received any help from the outside world.
The Pakistani government and international relief organizations struggled to get assistance to remote areas as the United Nations appealed for $272 million US to provide food, shelter, medicine and water.
Many countries, including Britain, Japan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, sent planeloads of aid and Ottawa responded to public criticism by upping the total pledged to the aid effort from $300,000 to $20 million.
The Pakistani government and international relief organizations struggled to get assistance to remote areas as the United Nations appealed for $272 million US to provide food, shelter, medicine and water.
