The goal of this interdisciplinary study is to better understand the
land use factors that increase vulnerability of mountain areas in
northern Pakistan. The study will identify and analyse the damages
and losses caused by the October 2005 earthquake in two areas of
the same valley: one "low-risk" watershed with sound natural resources
management, the other, "high-risk" in an ecologically degraded watershed.
Secondly, the study will examine natural and man-made causes of secondary
hazards in the study area, especially landslides; and third it will
evaluate the cost of the earthquake damage in the study areas on
the livelihoods of local communities and the sub-regional economy.
There are few interdisciplinary studies to have correlated community
land use practices, resources management, and disaster risk reduction
in high-risk mountain areas. By better understanding these linkages,
development- humanitarian- and donor agencies focused on disaster
reduction can improve their risk reduction programs for mountainous
regions.