India Earthquake 8th October 2005, Jammu and Kashmir : Preliminary Damage and Needs Assessment

This report provides an assessment of
damages and needs resulting from the earthquake that struck
India on the 8m of October 2005. It provides a preliminary
estimate of the total cost of damage identifies the needs
for reconstruction and discusses strategies and guiding
principles for the implementation for a program of
reconstruction, the whole based on a need to mitigate future
impact of natural disasters through the strengthening of
disaster risk management. The report was prepared in
response to the Government of India (Department of Economic
Affairs) and was undertaken by the United Nations, World
Bank and the Asian Development Bank. A team of experts drawn
from the three institutions visited the worst affected areas
of Jammu and Kashmir to undertake the assessment. The
assessment mission comprised experts and specialists drawn
from all relevant disciplines so as to be able to prepare a
multi-sectoral report of damage, loss, recovery and
reconstruction options, as comprehensive as possible given
the very limited amount of time able to conduct field
visits. The assessment team expresses its appreciation to
all authorities for their support and assistance in terms of
access to information and availability for discussion.
Particular thanks are expressed to the Divisional
Commissioner and his team for facilitating logistics and
security during our stay in Srinagar and for transportation
to the affected areas, as well as to District Commissioners
and their teams at a local level for providing information
and support during the visits themselves. The findings of
the assessment, conducted between December 15th and 2200 are
presented in this report. They analysis of the team is based
on discussions with all relevant authorities and the limited
visits to the worst-affected areas as well as analysis of
figures provided by authorities on key pre-earthquake data.
Given that not all information is even to date available to
the assessment team members, and the limited amount of time
present in the affected areas themselves, the figures for
damage and needs are to be considered as the best estimate possible.