The site is an old Buddhist settlement by the name of Khaplu which lies between the silk route (Karakoram highway) and River Gilgit. River Gilgit is one of the main tributaries of river Indus.
Karakoram highway is the highest highway in the world. It was built in 1986, due to the collaboration of China and Pakistan. It is situated on the old silk route. Silk route and silk have been deeply linked since 520AD. During this time silk was the biggest export of China. Silk was exported to Europe and other parts of the world through a network of silk routes. This route was the one which connected central Asia and China with the Arabian Sea. For decades the process of silk making was kept as a highly guarded secret by China.
Khaplu traces its origins to Buddhist monks from Tibet travelling on the silk route and settling down there. They have preserved their culture ever since. Unlike other remote preserved cultures they are very open, hospitable and welcoming since they are used to seeing tourists and travellers retiring in the village during their journeys.
Since Khaplu is at the altitude of 1459m and it is such a difficult terrain the government has not proven dedicated enough to provide them with electricity and natural gas as a source of energy. This leads to an increase in cutting down trees and resulting in deforestation. Meanwhile when land is stripped of its cover it becomes loose and crumbly and on top of that this is a seismically active area. Thus frequent landslides occur in and around this village. In order to deal these forces of nature they tend to construct light weight temporary homes which are easier to rebuild after a disaster, rather than to shift their village elsewhere and abandon their land which is very important to them. Although loss of human life still occurs regularly. We can understand the frequency of earthquakes, their location and magnitude in the site over the past five years, by referring to the following tables