Kashmir: Can traditional housing mitigate quake damage?

Over the past 10 weeks, India-administered Kashmir has experienced 17 earthquakes. Five of them registered a magnitude of 4.0 or higher, while 12 ranged between 4.0 and 2.0 on the Richter scale.  

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Experts emphasize the importance of prioritizing resilient infrastructure and construction practices to withstand the visible indicators of stress build-up caused by shifting tectonic plates. 

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Specialists recommend microseismic zoning andrisk assessments in Kashmir to minimize the loss of human lives in the event of a high-magnitude quake. 

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"Most traditional architecture was resilient to earthquakes. Kashmir has three variants of timber-laced architecture. The presence of flexible timber as a tying element to the rigid masonry is what made these constructions withstand forces of an earthquake," conservation architect Saima Iqbal, told DW. 

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