By ThirdPole
An estimated 150
people have been killed and more than 950 people injured after a powerful 7.5
magnitude earthquake struck north-eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan a little
after noon on October 26, 2015.
The earthquake
was 212 km deep and was centered in the mountainous Hindu Kush region, 82 km
south of the Badakhshan capital Faizabad, the
US Geological Survey reported.
Tremors from the
quake were also felt in northern India and Tajikistan.
In Pakistan, 114
people have been killed and 956 injured across the country, according to the
federal minister of information Pervez Rashid. However, unofficial figures show
that the total death toll has crossed 160.
The northern
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has been most affected area in Pakistan with 50
reported deaths, including children and women killed by collapsing houses. It
is feared that the number of causalities will rise as reports trickle in from
more remote areas. The scale of the damage is still unclear as communication
systems have been down across the country.
The earthquake
was felt in the cities of Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Sialkot, Quetta,
Peshawar, and the northern provinces of Chitral, Gilgit-Baltistan and
Kashmir, the Pakistan Meteorological Department said.
As many as 94
people have died in neighbouring
Afghanistan, State-run Pakistan TV reported. Meanwhile, Afghan officials
say 33 people were killed nation-wide including 12 schoolgirls who were
trampled to death while trying to get out of swaying buildings.
The first quake
was followed by a 4.8 magnitude aftershock shortly afterwards.
In Islamabad,
buildings shook and people flocked into the streets, crying and reciting verses
from the holy Quran. “I was having lunch when the massive earthquake shattered
my home. We rushed out with children in a panic,” said Sher Akbar, a resident
of Islamabad. He said that it was difficult to walk due to the shaking earth.
Bad news: The recent HinduKush earthquake had little to do with the strain building up in the Himalayas. https://t.co/BsPfvZzI81
— Samar Halarnkar (@samar11) October 28, 2015
Unprecedented Quake
The earthquake
is one of the strongest in the country’s history. The 7.6 magnitude quake that
hit Pakistan in 2005 killed more than 75,000 people, the vast majority of them
in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was called
then) and the Pakistani-administered zone of Kashmir.
This earthquake
has been less destructive because it struck far deeper below the surface of the
earth and extended over a greater area than the 2005 quake, a former chief of
the Pakistan Metrological Department, Qamar Zaman Chaudhry told thethirdpole.net. Today’s quake was 212 km
deep, compared to 10 km depth of the 2005 quake. There could be aftershocks of
up to a magnitude of 6 for the next two or three months, he said.
Pakistan’s Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif has declared a national emergency and directed government
agencies to remain vigilant and provide assistance to the people. The national
disaster management authority is coordinating the provincial and district response. The
Chief of Army Staff has also directed all core commanders to visit their
respective areas.
Landslides and
glacier collapse
The Karakorum
Highway that links Pakistan and China has also been blocked at three
points due to landslides, making the relief and rescue response more
difficult. In the Hunza area of Gilgit-Baltistan an entire glacier has reportedly
collapsed.
Landslides in
Chitral and northern parts of country have blocked and damaged roads, cutting
off entire areas. People in Chitral are facing tremendous difficulties in
getting injured people to Peshawar and other cities for treatment due to
blockade of Lawari tunnel, said Zarwali Khan, a resident of Chitral, over the
phone.
At least 194
injured were brought to Swat’s Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital, which does not
have adequate medical facilities, a journalist told a local TV channel.
Northern India Shaken
The earthquake
was powerful enough to shake Indian-administered Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh, the Indian capital New Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh and
Uttarakhand. In New Delhi and adjoining areas of the National Capital Region
office workers, homemakers, children just back from school all rushed out of
their homes, especially those who work and live in high-rise buildings.
In the Jammu
region, a farmer died in a rock slide as he was running to safety
in a hilly area. Across Kashmir, people frantically ran out of
houses and buildings and waited for hours together before going back inside,
fearful stronger quakes were yet to come. Though no major damage
occurred, experts say that the building infrastructure in this region is highly
vulnerable as quake-resistant engineering requirements are not followed during
construction. A long overhead bridge in Srinagar city developed a long
crack in today’s disaster, raising suspicions that government
engineers and policy makers are not prioritizing peoples’ safety.
Memories of the
April 25 Nepal earthquake, which also shook all of northern India, are still
fresh in the minds of residents, and few were going to take chances. Many
residents were indignant with municipal authorities for not having organized earthquake drills even after repeated tremors.
This article originally published at ThirdPole.Net on October 26,2015
This work is under Creative Commons'
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 England & Wales License.
Image Attribute : USGS Shakemap October 26, 2015 Hindu Kush / Source: Wikimedia Commons [Link]
Image Attribute : USGS Shakemap October 26, 2015 Hindu Kush / Source: Wikimedia Commons [Link]
