Pre and post earthquake forest damage assessment — A case study of 2005 earthquake impact on forest of Machiara National Park, Pakistan

October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan measuring at 7.6 Richter scale jolted huge area of Himalayan Mountains leaving over 75 thousands people dead; 80,000 people injured and about 3.5 million people as homeless. It not only destroyed buildings, telecommunication, roads, and power supply but also hampered the natural resources of the area. Current study aims to analyze the forest damage caused by earthquake, massive aftershocks and post land sliding in Machiara National Park. Machiara National Park (MNP) is situated in the Himalayan Highlands in Muzaffarabad District of Pakistan. It is in the Western Himalayan Broadleaf forest region and is one of the Global 200 Ecoregion. For the forest damage assessment, satellite images of 2000, 2005 and 2007 are being used. An extensive filed visit of the area was conducted to collect ground truth data. Pre and pots earthquake analysis reveal an overall decrease of 3% in conifer forest from 2000-2005 whereas 17% decrease from 2005-2007 is observed. Increased forest degradation rate due to triggered landslidings (in higher elevation and less forested/barren land) highlights the protective role of forest.