October27, 2005
Situation of Palas Valley after the earthquake on October 8, 2005

On the morning of Saturday October 8, 2005 , an earthquake registering 7.6 on the Richter scale hit the northern areas of Pakistan . The Kaghan valley and Azad Jammu and Kashmir bore the brunt of the earthquake and have been the target of a massive emergency aid relief effort. At the time of this update, areas such as Battagram, Besham and Allai are being accessed by relief agencies.

In Palas Valley (population approximately 60000), many of the inhabitants were busy with their daily and seasonal chores. A lot of people were out cutting grass when the earthquake hit resulting in many deaths from falling boulders. It also seems that some people are still unaccounted for and may be lying under large stones and landslides. The falling boulders also killed a lot of the livestock that is allowed to graze freely on the mountain sides and any large ruminants that are usually kept indoors at night are presumably lost under the debris of the houses.

Access : Access routes to both lower and upper Palas Valley are blocked and though the road to lower Palas is being opened at the time of this report, the road to upper Palas is in bad shape and may take a few weeks to re-open. Many of the bridle-paths have been destroyed in many places. Bearing in mind the topography of the area, it can be assumed that many of the tracks traversing the steep and precipitous rock faces of the valley have been destroyed or have at least been made unfit for pack animals or people carrying heavy goods in or our of the valley. This has significant impact on the ability of the community to access relief aid in the main towns such as Pattan. The effort to open the road to upper Palas is also being hampered the rock-falls caused by the many after-shocks that the area is receiving. Presently the only safe route to upper Palas is via Muro pastures which are being used at the moment for people exiting the valley.

Infrastructure : Houses in the Valley are ‘kacha', consisting of a mix of wood, poles and mud. Houses in Palas vary in size according to the family structure and the permanency of the household.

Single room houses are usually found at higher altitudes whereas permanent constructions are built at lower elevations and often consist of three levels, livestock inhabiting the lower portion, the family at the middle storey and a guest room on the top. The roof of the house is made of poles, wooden struts and mud. When the earthquake hit a number of houses immediately collapsed. The number of these was quite low, approximately 300 over the whole valley. However, the number of houses that have been damaged is estimated at more than 3000 meaning that 30,000 people are presently homeless with no shelter from the coming winter.

Human casualties : In terms of fatalities, the total confirmed to date is 79 though this may increase as people succumb to their injuries, and the status of missing persons is determined. Unless protection is given against the harsh winter, casualties are going to increase. Many people were injured from collapsing houses and also from falling rocks and landslides, though so far serious casualties have been minimal and some of the most seriously injured have already been evacuated from the valley by helicopter. Some of the injured walked out of the valley soon after the earthquake and sought treatment in Manserha and Abbottabad.

Summary : The table below shows the figures collected so far. This data has been collected by a fact finding mission sent by the Palas Conservation and Development Federation to the valley. Some figures may still be approximate since some areas were not accessible.

Table 1: List of casualties and damage in the Valley