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Hundreds dead, many injured in Pakistan as massive earthquake shakes S. Asia

Dunya News

Massive earthquake measuring 8.1 magnitude hit the country at about 2:09 p.m. local time.

ISLAMABAD (Web Desk / AFP) - At least 214 people have been killed and hundreds sustained injuries when an earthquake measuring 8.1 at Richter Scale hit Pakistan on Monday. 150 deaths have also occured in Afghanistan, Dunya News reported. 

Reportedly, several buildings collapsed in various areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces as 135 casualties occured in the latter.

As many as 74 casualties have been recorded alone in Malakand division. 21 casualties have been recorded in Swat as well.

 

Photographs taken after the earthquake struck Chitral

Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said that the quake hit the country at about 2:09 p.m. local time and its epicenter was determined in Mount Hindukush, located along Pakistan-Afghanistan border, with a focal depth of 193 km.

PM ordered dispatching 9 mobile hospitals with doctors to the calamity-hit areas on immediate basis.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be leaving for Pakistan shortly. While talking to media in London, PM said that Pakistan will over come the adversity with its own resources. He said that NDMA is working fine.

Also read: Pakistan will overcome adversity with its own resources

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also expressed grief over the terrible incident.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Chaudhry Ahsan Iqbal said that the government will make all efforts for rescue and rehabilitation of those affected.

 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi phoned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and expressed grief over the loss of life and property caused by earthquake. He also offered cooperation of any kind for the rehabilitation of the victims.

Indian Occupied Kashmir was rocked  

Google has launched person-finder for the South Asia Earthquake. If you have information about someone missing or are looking for someone, you can go to Google s personfinder link and enter the name and details of the person. 

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif has arrived in Peshawar to examine the relief activities by the armed forces.

British educationist and expert on education reforms Sir Michael Barber condoled the deaths in Pakistan and Afghanistan from the earthquake.

Pakistan People s Party (PPP) leader Aseefa Bhutto Zardari called for unity in this time of calamity and prayed for the missing.

The US Geological Survey put the epicentre near Jurm in northeast Afghanistan, 250 kilometres (160 miles) from the capital Kabul and at a depth of 213.5 km.

The epitcentre is close to the site of an October 2005 quake which had a 7.6 magnitude quake and killed more than 75,000 people, displacing some 3.5 million more, although that quake was much shallower.

At the moment, losses are being determined in various areas of the country by the national and provincial disaster management authorities.

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak has directed the provincial disaster management authority to provide all possible relief to the affected people.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has also directed all the agencies to mobilise all resources for safety and rescue activities in the affected areas.

Army Chief General Raheel Sharif has directed the troops to carry out immediate rescue work in any affected areas without waiting for formal orders.

On the other hand, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has also offered all possible cooperation in rescue and relief activities to the NDMA.

A PAF spokesman said that planes and helicopters could be provided to NDMA for relief and rescue activities.

POSSIBLE AFTERSHOCKS

NDMA spokesperson has said there is possibility of aftershocks during the next 24 hours and a country-wide alert has been issued on that count.

He said though intensity of the quake was severe but apparently it did not cause major losses because its depth was intermediate.

STRONG TREMORS FELT IN INDIA, KABUL 

The quake, which lasted at least one minute, shook buildings in Kabul, Islamabad and New Delhi and sent people rushing into the streets.

Afghanistan s CEO Abdullah Abdullah said reports of damage and injuries were coming in from Afghanistan s northeast.

"Disasters authorities to meet within the hour and respond to the needs," he tweeted.

Traffic came to a stop in downtown Kabul, with people getting out of their cars as they waited for the quake to pass.

As buildings shook throughout north India, hundreds of people poured onto the streets from office blocks, hospitals and and homes, AFP reporters and TV footage showed.

Delhi s metro ground to a halt during the tremor although the airport continued operating.

"All of around 190 trains plying on the tracks were stopped at the time of the earthquake. The lines and the trains are now being restored after basic inspection of respective lines," Anuj Dayal, Delhi Metro spokesman told AFP.

Cell phone networks were down in the Kashmir region where panicked residents also evacuated buildings and school children were seen huddling together outside their school in the main city of Srinagar.

"Some bridges and buldings got damaged. There are no reports of loss of life so far. Cell phone networks are down, we are using our wireless network to gather information," inspector general of police for the Kashmir region, Javid Gillani, told AFP from the police control room.

Many buildings were badly damaged during massive floods a year ago, heightening the danger that they would have collapsed during the quake.

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL S CONDOLENCES

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered his condolences to the families of the earthquake casualties. The UN Secretary-General also offered aid to the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan for their respective affected areas. Ban Ki-moon stated that everybody is praying for the speedy recovery of those injured in the natural disaster.

Spokesperson for the US White House also issued a statement on the calamity offering its condolences to both Pakistan and Afghanistan for the tragic loss of lives. The Spokesperson stated that the US government was in contact with Pakistan and Afghanistan s government officials in regards to the earthquake.  

(Contact Dunya News at 0344-4440129 if you have any information)

Related Topics
Natural Disaster
Pakistan
Afghanistan
India