The Kaghan Valley is roughly 160 km long with a population of approximately 300,000 prior to the earthquake of October 8. Administratively, the valley is part of the Balakot sub-district (Tehsil) of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan with its headquarters in the town of Balakot. Balakot, had a pre-quake population of roughly 30,000.

Before October 8, 2005, Kaghan was already one of the most underdeveloped regions of Pakistan with the majority of its population barely living at subsistence levels. The earthquake made things exponentially worse for these people. Balakot was rendered into a heap of debris with virtually no building left standing in the entire town. Estimates of losses in Balakot stood at more than 14,000 dead, 582 schools destroyed, 18 hospitals and Basic Health Units levelled, 30,000 houses collapsed or rendered uninhabitable and more than 200,000 people left homeless.

The site where Balakot once stood has since been converted into one of the two major hubs for earthquake relief work; the other centre being the town of Muzaffarabad in Pakistani-administered Kashmir. Reconstruction work in these destroyed towns and valleys is underway.