Kashmiri children stand next to a school that collapsed in the 2005 earthquake in the village in the a remote Leepa Valley located very near the Line of Control (LOC) with India Azad Kashmir Pakistan. Nearly half the estimated 35 000 people of the Leepa Valley were affected by the earthquake and nearly all schools and government buildings damaged but because of its location on the LOC the valley is inaccessible by road from the rest of Pakistan in the winter and little aid has arrived. Leepa Valley is considered to be one of the most beautiful in Kashmir but shelling and sniper fire from the Indian troops have kept the valley closed to foreign visitors. A UNOPS (United Nations office for Project Services) team traveled to the region to make an assesment of Post-earthquake humanitarian and reconstruction needs.
