Victims of 2005 quake remembered on 17th anniversary

MUZAFFARABAD (92 News) - The 17th anniversary of 8th October earthquake was observed across Pakistan on Saturday (today).

 On October 8, 2005, Azad Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were jolted by one of the most horrendous earthquakes of the history which took away lives of more than 80 thousand people.

Seventeen years before from today on Oct 8, 2005, the 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck at 8:52 in the morning. The earthquake ruined the cities of Khyber Pakhtunkwa. Thousands of people were killed, injured and handicapped in the catastrophe of earthquake. The horrible scenes cannot be forgotten after the 17 years. However, the tremor and aftershocks turned the entire cities including Bagh, Garhi Habibullah, Muzaffarabad cities of Kashmir and Balakot, Mansehra from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa into wreckage.

The tragedy left more than three million people homeless. The federal capital city, Islamabad, was also observed the most horrendous earthquakes in the history of 100 years. The apartment’s worth of billion rupees of Margala Towers in F-10 Markaz, posh area of Islamabad, also ruined with hundreds of sleeping people during the earth quake.

The earthquake with 7.6 rector scale hit the northern part of the country in the morning of October 8. A total of 1450 projects were approved for the rehabilitation work in the affected areas, out of which few projects are still in pending.