Thousands die in earthquake
October 09, 2005 Edition 1
An earthquake measuring at least 7.6 on the Richter Scale caused massive devastation yesterday across a swath of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, leaving thousands of people feared dead.
The quake struck close to the dividing line between the Indian and Pakistani controlled zones of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, triggering deadly landslides that wiped out whole villages.
The tremor sent people fleeing their homes in areas more than 1 000km apart, from the western Pakistani desert city of Quetta to Kunduz in the mountains of northern Afghanistan.
"This is the strongest quake in the past 100 years in this region," said the chief of Pakistan's meteorological department, Qamar Uzzman.
Pakistani officials described scenes of "massive devastation" and warned of heavy loss of life, especially in the mountains of Kashmir where communications have been cut off.
Pakistani and Indian officials confirmed more than 1 000 deaths, but Pakistani military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said the toll would rise dramatically. "The death toll could be in the thousands. The devastation is massive," he said.
In Pakistan's North West Frontier Province alone, more than 550 people were killed, said Riffat Pasha, provincial head of police. "The death toll is between 550 and 600 in North West Frontier Province and it is likely to rise," he said.
At least 250 people were confirmed dead in Muzaffarabad, the main town of 125 000 people in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. The army said more than 50% of the buildings in the town had been destroyed or damaged.
Sultan said several villages in Kashmir had been "wiped out" and that troops and helicopters had been scrambled to reach the stricken areas.
"Village after village has been wiped out," an army relief official in Muzaffarabad said. "The Neelum River has been blocked because whole villages have fallen into the water."
Indian officials meanwhile said at least 178 people, including 21 soldiers, had been killed, and 300 wounded in the Indian-controlled zone of Kashmir.
Indian army spokesman P Sehgal said many soldiers died when their positions caved in along the Line of Control, the heavily-militarised de facto border which divides Kashmir's Indian and Pakistani zones.
The quake also brought down buildings in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, including the 10-storey Margalla Towers where rescuers used bare hands to claw through rubble to reach bloodstained people trapped under huge stone slabs.
"We saw people rushing to a balcony on the other building but, while it was still rocking, it crashed down and the occupants came down with the the concrete," said a resident. "There were screams of women and children. Many are still trapped inside and we can hear cries."
The US Geological Survey and the Pakistan Meteorological Department said the quake measured 7.6 on the Richter scale. The Japanese Meteorological Agency put the tremblor even higher at 7.8.
The epicentre was about 100km north-east of Islamabad, said most agencies, although the Earth Sciences Observatory in the French city of Strasbourg said it was just inside Indian Kashmir. The divided territory of Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan. Thousands of troops face off on each side of the Line of Control and the two countries have fought two wars over the territory.
In Islamabad, in the first minutes after the quake struck, thousands fled their houses and sought the relative safety of the city's broad tree-lined avenues.
The ground shook for more than 30 seconds, rocking buildings and making it almost impossible to walk without falling over. About 14 aftershocks, including one measuring more than 6.0 on the Richter scale, rattled Islamabad for hours afterwards. A strong quake also rocked parts of Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province yesterday, causing panic among residents. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The quake also jolted Nias island in North Sumatra province, causing panic.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval as it is on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. - Sapa-AP
The worst killer quakes of the past 100 years
The 12 deadliest earthquakes worldwide over the past 100 years, with estimates of surface magnitude. The Richter scale of magnitude did not come into being until 1935:
