Devastating quake kills thousands
ON Oct 8 early in the morning at 8:52 AM a strong earthquack jolted almost everybody : A strong earthquake, said to be most powerful to hit the region in 100 years, is feared to have killed and injured thousands of people and caused massive destruction in northern Pakistan on Saturday, mainly in areas situated close to its epicentre which lay some 95 kilometres northeast of Islamabad in Kashmir.
Met department chief Dr Qamaruz Zaman said the earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, was the severest to hit the region in 100 years. It proved so destructive because it was shallow — about 10 kilometres deep
Even one of the some 40 aftershocks that his department’s seismographs registered within six hours of the initial massive quake that hit at 8:52am measured 6.2. A tremor of intensity of 6 is rated as a major earthquake. However, only about 18 of the aftershocks were perceptible to the people.
Television footage from Muzaffarabad, one of the worst hit places, gave some inkling of the devastation it caused. PTV showed buildings collapsed, roads split open and blocked by landslides, water pipes broken and power lines and transformers flung down.
The devastating earthquake shocked the nation and brought the best in it as people rose up to the occasion participating in the relief work.In Islamabad many residents were still asleep after taking Sehri when the quake jolted them out of their beds. Those already up and about to go for their work places rushed out of their houses into the open as the earth shook violently.
Experts’ calls over TV channels to remain cautious as the aftershocks could continue for next 48 hours unnerved them even more.
PTV cameras perhaps caught the most vivid pictures of human reaction to the quake at the exact moment it hit. An official being interviewed in a talk show on India’s controversial Baglihar dam suddenly stopped mid way as everything in the PTV studio started shaking.“It is an earthquake - a strong one,” said the official and he and the two presenters of the show started praying. “Allah-o- Akbar, Allah-o-Akbar”, they said and recited the Kalima.
posted by aYeShA @ 12:05 AM
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