Pakistan/India Quake...

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

I had just heard of this quake earlier this morning. For those of you

unfamilair with what has happened, here is informations taken from MSNBC...

 

 

Updated: 12:09 p.m. ET Oct. 8, 2005

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake near the

Pakistan-India border Saturday reduced villages to rubble, triggered landslides

and flattened an apartment building, killing more than 1,700 people in both

nations. Pakistan's army called the devastation "a national tragedy."

 

In the capitals of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, buildings shook and walls

swayed for about a minute, and panicked people ran from their homes and offices.

Tremors continued for hours afterward. Communications throughout the region were

cut.

 

About 1,000 people died in Pakistani Kashmir, said Sardar Mohammed Anwar, the

top government official in the area.

 

 

 

"This is my conservative guess, and the death toll could be much higher," Anwar

told Pakistan's Aaj television station. He said most homes in Muzaffarabad, the

area's capital, were damaged, and schools and hospitals collapsed.

 

"It is a national tragedy," Pakistan's chief army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat

Sultan said. "This is the worst earthquake in recent times."

 

Centered near Islamabad

The U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site that the quake hit at 8:50 a.m.

local time and had a magnitude of 7.6. It was centered about 60 miles northeast

of Islamabad in the forested mountains of Pakistani Kashmir.

 

 

 

Damage was extensive in Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan territory divided

between India and Pakistan. Officials in the Indian-controlled portion reported

at least 190 people killed, including 20 soldiers who perished in a landslide.

At least 800 people were injured and about 2,700 homes were destroyed or damaged

across Jammu-Kashmir, said senior state official B.B. Vyas.

 

Army soldiers and local volunteers were rescuing people from under the debris of

collapsed houses. Telephone lines were down. Bridges had developed cracks, but

traffic was passing over them.

 

Aftershocks shake Pakistan

The USGS reported at least five aftershocks in Pakistan, with the strongest

measuring magnitude 6.3 and located about 70 miles north of Islamabad.

 

 

 

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz

ordered the military to extend "all-out help" to quake-hit areas and appealed to

the nation to stay calm. Helicopters took troops to damaged areas, but

landslides were hindering rescue efforts.

 

At least 500 people died and 1,700 were injured in four quake-hit districts in

northwestern Pakistan, said provincial police chief Rifat Pasha. He said the

toll could rise because rescue teams were still working in areas that were hit

hard by the temblor. The dead included a Chinese engineer hit by loosened

boulders.

 

In eastern Afghanistan, an 11-year-old girl was crushed to death when a wall in

her home collapsed, said police official Gafar Khan.

 

The quake brought down a 10-story apartment building in Islamabad and dozens of

people were feared trapped in the rubble. Rescuers pulled out at least 20

injured people. The dead included an Egyptian diplomat, hospital doctors said.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry in Tokyo said two Japanese died.

 

A man named Rehmatullah who lived nearby said he saw dust from the buckled

building from his bathroom window.

 

"I rushed down, and for some time you could not see anything because of the

dust. Then we began to look for people in the rubble," he said. "We pulled out

one man by cutting off his legs."

 

"It was like hell," said Nauman Ali, who lived in a nearby top-floor apartment.

"It was terrible. I was tossed up in my bed and the ceiling fan struck against

the roof."

 

Aided by two large cranes, hundreds of police and soldiers helped remove chunks

of concrete, one of which was splattered with blood. One rescue worker said he

initially heard faint cries from people trapped in the rubble.

 

 

 

In Abbotabad, north of Islamabad, dozens of injured quake victims and other

patients, some hooked up to intravenous drips, lay on the lawn of the city

hospital after officials said aftershocks made it unsafe to stay inside.

Hospital staff with loudspeakers appealed to the public for food and other

relief supplies.

 

One of the injured was an 8-year-old boy, Qadeer, whose father, a farmer named

Jehangir, said the only buildings left standing in their village were a mosque

and a school. Qadeer lay unconscious, his right leg heavily bandaged.

 

Bodies brought to stadium

Sultan said the worst-hit areas were in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, including

Muzaffarabad, the regional capital, and the towns of Bagh and Rawalakot. The

districts of Batagram, Balakot, Mansehra, Abbottabad and Patan in northwestern

Pakistan also suffered serious damage, he said.

 

Authorities brought dozens of bodies to a damaged sports stadium in

Muzaffarabad, and laid them on the ground under sheets.

 

Dozens of homes, schools, mosques and government offices were damaged, and

hundreds of injured people were taken to hospitals.

 

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said the quake was felt at Bagram,

the main American base in Afghanistan, but he had no reports of damage at bases

around the country.

 

"It was so strong that I saw buildings swaying. It was terrifying," said Hari

Singh, a guard in an apartment complex in a suburb of India's capital, New

Delhi. Hundreds of residents raced down from their apartments after their

furniture started shaking.

 

The quake also jolted parts of Bangladesh, but no casualties or damage were

reported there.

 

 

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