At the request of the World Meteorological Organization, Mr K H Yeung, Assistant Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, visited the Pakistan Meteorological Department on 8-10 November 2005 to draw up a proposal to enhance the meteorological and seismological services provided by that Department in support of relief and reconstruction after the disastrous earthquake of 8 October 2005. The mission arose from a request to the World Meteorological Organization by the Pakistan Government. Also taking part in the mission was World Meteorological Organization director in charge of the voluntary cooperation programme, Dr Tokiyoshi Toya.

An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck the hilly regions of northern Pakistan on 8 October 2005. It killed 79,000 people, injured 65,000 and damaged tens of thousands of houses. The approaching winter threatens the lives of many survivors now living in tents, and also poses a hazard to relief operations in particular to helicopters trying to land on snow-covered grounds. The Pakistan Meteorological Department is issuing 3-day forecasts for earthquake affected areas, which are accessible on the two World Meteorological Organization websites on world city forecasts (http://www.worldweather.org/) and on severe weather information (http://severe.worldweather.org/) managed by the Hong Kong Observatory. There is also a link to the forecasts from the Observatory's homepage (http://www.weather.gov.hk/contente.htm).