2005 earthquake victims remembered

MIRPUR:

The 17th anniversary of the devastating earthquake of 2005 was commemorated across Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Saturday. The state flag remained at half-mast on all public buildings of the state to mark the anniversary.

The anniversary was observed as the 'Day of Patience', besides ‘National Day for Raising Awareness about Safety from Natural Calamities’ and ‘Day of Firmness and Determination for Reconstruction in Memory of Earthquake Martyrs.

Special prayers were held for the departed souls of the victims and to express complete solidarity and sympathies with the survivors of history's worst natural catastrophe.

The 7.6 magnitude earthquake jolted AJK and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) at 8:52 am on the morning of October 8, 2005.

Muzaffarabad, the state metropolis, was ground-zero in the catastrophic temblor. The city and the entire region around Balakot were left virtually unrecognisable when the earth stopped shaking leaving over 82,000 people dead and thousands injured.

The devastating earthquake of October 8, 2005, had jolted AJK and adjoining areas of K-P, turning major parts of the two adjoining regions into rubble.

AJK Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan laid a floral wreath at the memorial of the martyrs in the state capital. Ministers and a large number of local people attended the ceremony. A one-minute silence was also observed at 8:52 am.