At least 130 people were killed and over 1,000 others injured on Monday as a powerful 7.5- magnitude earthquake rocked northern Pakistan, prompting the Nawaz Sharif Government to rush Army personnel to the affected areas for rescue operations. The quake, which sent ripples across Delhi-NCR, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, caused a major panic in Jammu & Kashmir and brought people out of their homes and offices.
The quake’s epicentre was located near Jurm in northeast Afghanistan, 250 km from Kabul and at a depth of 213.5 km, according to the US Geological Survey. Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif left for Peshawar to supervise rescue operations in earthquake-hit areas, military’s media wing said in a statement. The death toll in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA) is 121, with 5 killed in Punjab, and 4 in the PoK, Pakistani media reported. Over 1,000 people were injured, 673 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he has asked for an urgent assessment of the situation in the wake of the quake and offered assistance to Afghanistan and Pakistan. “Heard about strong earthquake in Afghanistan-Pakistan region whose tremors have been felt in parts of India. I pray for everyone’s safety,” the PM said on Twitter.
“I have asked for an urgent assessment and we stand ready for assistance where(ever) required, including Afghanistan & Pakistan,” he said. In Jammu & Kashmir, two Army personnel were injured when their bunker collapsed following tremors in Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district. The bunker collapsed inside Ganjoo house, where an Army unit is camping, resulting in injuries to two soldiers, following which they were taken to hospital, officials said.
The flyover at Jehangir Chowk in the heart of Srinagar also developed a crack, forcing the authorities to suspend traffic over it, the officials said. However, elsewhere there was no immediate report of any casualty in the quake.
In Delhi, people frantically rushed out of their houses and offices as the ground shook. Trains across the Delhi Metro corridor came to a screeching halt as soon as quake struck the national capital, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. Services were resumed after 15 minutes, but trains ran at a snail’s pace and it took long for normal operations to be restored as a comprehensive safety check was undertaken.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of Pakistan has directed the district administration to utilise rescue and relief funds. Emergency has been declared in all Government hospitals and food and necessary items were dispatched to the affected areas.
Reportedly, several buildings collapsed in various areas of the province mostly in northern parts in Chitral, Swat, Shangla, Dir and Buner districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said that the quake hit the country about 2.09 pm local time. Several landslides have been reported in mountainous areas of the country, leading to fears that the death toll may increase.
Tremors were also felt in major cities, including Karachi, lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Quetta, Kohat and Malakand. Forty minutes after the first quake, an aftershock of 4.8 magnitude was reported in the same area.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed all federal, civil, military and provincial agencies to declare an immediate alert and mobilise all resources to ensure the security of citizens of Pakistan. All agencies have been directed to move out with their resources.
Sharif also told the Gilgit Baltistan Governor to mobilise tribal administration immediately for relief, rescue and damage assessment in the affected regions. On the directions of the premier, a round-the-clock crisis cell has also been formed to coordinate with all federal, civil, military and provincial agencies for damage assessment and rescue and relief efforts. The premier also directed the Governor to immediately reach Gilgit and take charge of rescue and relief efforts in the region.
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in 2005 had killed over 73,000 people in Pakistan and left about 3.5 million homeless. However, the destruction then was more as the depth was very shallow.