The South Asian earthquake of October 2005 devastated large parts of Kashmir on both sides of the Line of Control (LOC) as well as significant parts of the North West Frontier province in Pakistan. The death toll in Pakistan was around 73,000 (almost 30,000 children) with another 70,000 severely injured or disabled and 4 million made homeless. On the Indian side, damage was confined to two districts with 1,300 deaths, 7,500 injured and over 37,000 buildings damaged. Within days of this catastrophe, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) responded through its affiliate FOCUS, to provide relief assistance to the affected communities. On the Pakistan side, AKDN’s fleet of helicopters flew over 1,500 sorties, providing food, blankets, tents and tarpaulin, and evacuated nearly 2,000 injured from the affected areas. On the Indian side FOCUS provided winterised tents and warm clothing to nearly 400 families in 14 villages. On both sides of the LOC, nearly 200,000 people were assisted.

For more information, please see:

"Multidimensional post-earthquake reconstruction:  the Chakama Valley in Pakistan administered  Kashmir and the Uri Block in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir", portions of which appeared in the publications REAL RISK (2006) and RISK WISE (2008)

Risk-conscious Reconstruction in Pakistan-administered Kashmir: A Case Study of the Chakhama Valley