Strain accumulation along various faults in the Kashmir Himalaya from InSAR

<p>We are using InSAR time-series analysis to measure the interseismic deformation across various faults of the Kashmir Himalaya. Active faults reaching the surface include the Main Boundary Faults, Bagh-Balakot Fault, which ruptured in the 2005 Kashmir earthquake (Mw 7.6), Jhelum Fault, Reasi Thrust and intra-Kashmir basin faults. We concentrate on these shallow faults that are closest to the people living in Kashmir. The Main Boundary Faults and other faults likely connect to the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT) that is the plate-boundary megathrust beneath Kashmir and the rest of the Himalayas. The MHT has been suggested as a possible source for Mw 8 to Mw 8.5 earthquakes in this area. We have processed interferometric pairs from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ALOS-2 L-band (24 cm wavelength) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) wide-swath (ScanSAR) data acquired between 2015 and 2020. Initial interferometric SAR (InSAR) processing was carried out using the alos2App application of the InSAR Scientific Computing Environment (ISCE2) package, with ionospheric corrections enabled. We found that many scenes acquired in the winter form pairs that have low coherence due to snow cover in the High Himalayas and Pir Panjal Range. We also found that phase unwrapping in the mountains was improved by taking 10 range and 56 azimuth looks from the full-aperture ScanSAR for an effective resolution of about 200 meters. We are running a co-registered stack processing of the ALOS-2 SAR data, with self-consistent ionospheric corrections estimated using the split-spectrum method, using the new alosStack application of ISCE2 package to carry out time-series InSAR analysis, using an open-source Python toolbox, MIntPy.</p>

Comparing the agenda setting role of the Pakistani and Indian newspapers in disasters: a case study of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake

In the aftermath of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, the media played a central role in linking victims to the government apparatus and the national and international community and highlighting weaknesses in the disaster management process. This study was conducted to analyze and compare the ‘agenda setting role’ of the Pakistani newspapers with that of the Indian newspapers after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 and resulting in over 78,000 fatalities in Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and the Indian part of Kashmir. Two Pakistani and two Indian newspapers each with high circulation were selected for qualitative and quantitative analysis. A total of 630 articles were downloaded for analysis out of which 120 front page articles were finally analyzed with the help of five selected themes including extent of damage, phases of disaster, responsibility issues, types of framing and focus on disaster policies. The study revealed that there was a strong agenda setting role of both Pakistani and Indian newspapers in post 2005 Kashmir earthquake. The newspapers focused on broad policy issues using thematic framing techniques with a strong emphasis on response phase, whereas the least attention has been given to preparedness and mitigation strategies. The analysis further revealed that in both the countries, federal government was considered to be responsible for disaster management system by both Pakistani and Indian newspapers and the Indian newspapers have also strongly criticized the Indian army for their unsatisfactory emergency response operations. Newspapers are still one of the most important sources of information in many developing countries including Pakistan and India and they can play a positive role in the management of natural disasters by focusing on mitigation and preparation to prepare communities for future disasters.

The impact of topography on seismic amplification during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake

Ground surface topography influences the spatial distribution of earthquake-induced ground shaking. This study shows the influence of topography on seismic amplification during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. Earth surface topography scatters and reflects seismic waves, which causes spatial variation in seismic response. We performed a 3-D simulation of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake in Muzaffarabad with the spectral finite-element method. The moment tensor solution of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake was used as the seismic source. Our results showed amplification of seismic response on ridges and de-amplification in valleys. It was found that slopes facing away from the source received an amplified seismic response, and that 98 % of the highly damaged areas were located in the topographically amplified seismic response zone.