THE 2005 Kashmir earthquake is still considered one of the largest disasters of its kind in the region. With over 73,000 people killed and more than 125,000 injured, the quake that measured 7.6 on the Richter Scale left over 3.5 million people homeless.

But even today, 10 years after this monumental tragedy, reconstruction and rehabilitation seem to be a distant dream. Of the over 2,700 schools destroyed in AJK, only about 1,200 have been rebuilt and at least 150,000 students are compelled to attend makeshift classrooms to this day. In Muzaffarabad, at least 110 reconstruction projects have yet to be initiated. The people of Balakot, which was all but razed to the ground, are still waiting to be moved to the promised New Balakot City.

Also read-editorial: When a nation came together

Sadly, despite the grim lessons of Oct 8, 2005, quake-resistant buildings are still not the norm and there is still very little focus on disaster mitigation. In a special report (on Pages 6 & 7 in today’s issue), Dawn examines the aftermath of the deadly earthquake and examines how prepared Pakistan is to deal with another crisis of this magnitude.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2015

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