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Strong Quake Rocks South Asia; Dozens Dead
Oct 8, 5:45 AM (ET)
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
< style>p {margin:12px 0px 0px 0px;} ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake flattened villages in South Asia on Saturday, killing dozens of people and injuring hundreds in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. Pakistan's army said the damage appeared to be extensive with a potential for massive casualties. Pakistan's Geo television reported that Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao said hundreds were killed. The report could not be immediately confirmed. Pakistani army officials who flew over quake-hit areas reported seeing hundreds of flattened homes in northern villages, a government official in Islamabad said. He declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media. Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the Pakistani army's chief spokesman, said several villages in the north were buried in landslides.
"The damage and casualties could be massive and it is a national tragedy," said Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the Pakistani army's chief spokesman. "The is the worst earthquake in recent times." Another hardest-hit region appeared to be Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan territory divided between India and Pakistan. Both countries reported dozens of homes damaged, along with some schools, mosques and office buildings. Geo TV said it had received unconfirmed reports that at least 25 people had died in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. Government officials there said more than 100 injured people had been taken to hospitals. Indian officials confirmed 16 deaths in India's Jammu-Kashmir state, including four in the main city of Srinagar. The dead included a 9-month-old baby. Air force and army soldiers were helping civilian authorities to rescue people trapped under buildings. Telephone lines were down across the state. More than 200 people were injured in the area, according to official reports. Bridges had developed cracks, but traffic was passing over them. Srinagar is the state's summer capital and has a population of about 1.5 million.
Four people also died in Shangla district in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, said Bahar Karam, a relief official. In eastern Afghanistan, an 11-year-old girl was crushed to death when a wall in her home collapsed, said police official Gafar Khan. Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf appealed to the nation to stay calm, the Information Ministry said in a statement. It said the president had directed federal and provincial officials to mobilize resources and ordered the military to extend "all-out help" to quake-hit areas. "We have received news of widespread damage in Pakistan's northern areas, Kashmir, and other parts of the country," said Sultan, the spokesman for Pakistan's army. He said troops and helicopters had been sent to earthquake-hit areas. Landslides were hindering rescue efforts in some areas.
The U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site the quake hit at 8:50 a.m. local time and had a magnitude of 7.6. It was centered 58 miles north-northeast of Islamabad at a depth of just six miles. Dozens of people were feared trapped in the rubble of a 10-story apartment building in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. Rescue workers pulled two injured people from a huge pile of debris. Qaiser Abbas, a receptionist in the building, said he was sitting in his office when the building suddenly began to shake. "After five seconds, I heard big sound, and then about 40 apartments collapsed," he said. He said some of the residents were foreigners, including Westerners and Central Asians. The building is in an upscale neighborhood of Islamabad.
In the Afghan capital, Kabul, residents fled their homes for fear they would collapse. Kabul is about 400 miles northwest of Islamabad. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said the quake was also felt at Bagram, the main American base in Afghanistan, but he had no reports of damage there or at other bases around the country. Police in the Pakistani city of Lahore said at least eight people were injured and four shops were damaged. The earthquake also damaged part of a school in Rawalpindi, a city near Islamabad, injuring at least two girls. In Islamabad, buildings shook and walls swayed for about a minute. Panicked people ran out of their homes and offices in many cities. Slight tremors continued afterward. The quake also caused panic in Peshawar and Quetta near the Afghan border. The tremor was felt in northern India. "It was so strong that I saw buildings swaying. It was terrifying," said Hari Singh, a guard in an apartment complex in the New Delhi suburb of Noida. Hundreds of residents there raced down from their apartments after their beds and couches started shaking.
< style>p {margin:12px 0px 0px 0px;} SRINAGAR, India (AP) - The powerful earthquake that jolted South Asia on Saturday killed at least 132 people in Indian-controlled Kashmir, army and police officials said. At least 115 people were killed in the frontier district of Uri, said Junaid Ahmed, a police superintendent in Kashmir's Baramulla district.
Oct 8, 5:45 AM (ET)
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
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The quake also jolted parts of Bangladesh, but no casualties or damage were reported.
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Oct 8, 6:00 AM (ET)
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Fourteen soldiers perished near the India-Pakistan border in a massive landslide triggered by the 7.6-magnitude quake, said army spokesman Lt. Col. V. K. Batra in Srinagar.
Another three people died in Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state, officials said.
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This aerial view shows a collapsed building in Islamabad following a strong earthquake on Saturday.
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