Web Desk(LTN News): The earthquake that struck Pakistan on October 8 is remembered as one of the worst to ever hit the country, with the majority of the 75,000 fatalities occurring in Azad Kashmir.

Today, on Saturday, marks the 17th anniversary of the devastating earthquake that struck the country’s northeast.

On this day, at 8:50 a.m., 17 years ago, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake shook the Himalayan region of northern Pakistan and its surrounds. The epicentre of the earthquake was only 19 kilometres (12 miles) to the northeast of Muzaffarabad, which contributed to the city being the hardest damaged.

One of the deadliest earthquakes in recent memory, thousands of structures fell, and further deaths and destruction were recorded in neighbouring India and Afghanistan.

The majority of the 19,000 children who perished as a result of the earthquake were killed in widespread school building collapses.

More than 500,000 large animals needed immediate refuge from the bitter winter, while another 250,000 agricultural animals perished owing to the collapse of stone barns.

While photographs and videos of earthquakes depict a trail of death and damage, survivors in Pakistan still bear the heartbreaking recollections of that day in their minds.

The vast majority of earthquake victims came from low-income households were residing in squalid homes and structures.

Later, significant relief operations were made to recover bodies, repair mountain roads and damaged highways, and make some of the area accessible.

When tensions between Pakistan and India were low, multiple crossing points were permitted in the line of control to facilitate rescue operations and the flow of aid supplies.

Azad Kashmir and its surroundings are situated near the meeting point of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, which experts claim make them susceptible to significant seismic activity.