Kashmir
quake toll rises 250, over 600 injured
by Bilal Butt/Rajneesh Parihans
Srinagar/Baramullah/Uri:
About 250 people, including 32 security personnel were
killed and 650 others injured when a massive earthquake
measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale rocked the northern state
of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday morning. Hundreds of houses
and other buildings collapsed or were damaged in the quake,
said to be the strongest in over 120 years. The quake, epicentred
in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, was followed
by over a dozen aftershocks that triggered panic across
the state and most parts of northern India. Official sources
said the death toll was mounting, and final count would
emerge by Sunday or even Monday, as there were several far
off places that remained cut off from the mainland due to
the earthquake.
Baramulla
district of North Kashmir has been declared the worst hit
where 142 people died, especially in the border town of
Uri where a number of villages near the Line of Control
almost got flattened. Eighty per cent of the houses in the
township have reportedly been damaged by the tremor. Tangdhar
and Keran sectors of frontier district of Kupwara were also
badly hit in the quake where 51 people were killed. Eight
persons were killed in Poonch district of Jammu region,
seven in Srinagar and four others in Udhampur district,
the sources said. The condition of many of the injured persons
is stated to be critical.
Tremors
of the quake were also felt in Delhi and adjoining areas
in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kahsmir,
Uttaranchal, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. A Home Ministry
situation report on the earthquake said this evening that
the calamity occured at 9.20 a.m. It said that the intensity
of the earthquake was initially reported as 6.8 on the Richter
scale later upgraded to 7.4 The epicenter of the earthquake,
it said was reported to be 34.6 N Latitude and 73.0 E Longitude
at the location 40 Kms., west of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan.
Six aftershocks of intensity more than 5.0 on Richter scale
have occurred in Pakistan during the last seven hours following
the main earthquake, the situation report, adding that included
one moderate aftershock of intensity 6.0 on Richter scale
which occurred at 4.16 p.m. with epicenter at 34.8 N Latitude
and 72.7 E Longitude near Muzaffarabad in Pakistan According
the report, the impact of the earthquake in Jammu and Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh and Punjab is as follows: Jammu and Kashmir:
The districts of Baramulla, Kupwara, Srinagar and Poonch
are the worst affected districts. So far, 213 civilians
have been reported killed, 32 deaths of Army personnel and
five deaths of BSF personnel have also been reported, mainly
due to house collapses.
The details
of deaths and injured cases are as under:- Srinagar Division
Districts No. of Deaths No. of injured Srinagar 05 237 Baramulla
139 150 Kupwara 53 100 Pulwama - 10 Anantnag - 15 Budgam
- 12 Total 197 524 Jammu Division Poonch 10 52 Udhampur
04 08 Doda 01 - Jammu 01 - Border districts - 04 Total 16
Total civilian deaths/injuries 213 64 Army personnel 32
03 BSF personnel 05 22 Grand total 250 613
The
road to Tangdhar has been blocked due to landslides. Army
Columns have moved to these affected area sin Uri, Tangdhar,
Baramulla, Kupwara Sector. Air support has also been put
to operation. Seven buildings have reported to be damaged
in Punjab i.e. five buildings in Amritsar, one each in Hoshiarpur
and Gurdaspur. Army, Air Force in relief operations in quake-hit
Kashmir The Control Room at the Ministry of Home Affairs
is functioning round the clock. Union Home Secretary V.K.
Duggal has spoken to the Chief Secretary, Jammu and Kashmir
and to the Secretaries of the Central Ministries/Departments
discharging emergency support functions. Advisories have
been issued by the ministryactivating the Ministries/Departments
of Defence, Power, Health, Telecommunication, Road Transport
and Highways and Petroleum to discharge necessary emergency
support functions in the affected areas particularly in
Jammu and Kashmir. The Army and Air Force have extended
full support to the civil administration in Jammu and Kashmir
in undertaking search and rescue activities.
Army,
IAF join relief work in quake-hit Kashmir (Go
To Top)
by Bilal Butt/Rajneesh Parihans
Baramulla/Uri:
The Indian Army and Air Force have launched large-scale
rescue operations in aid of the earthquake- affected in
Jammu and Kashmir. Informed sources said that "Operation
Imdad" was launched almost immediately after the earthquake
that so far claimed close to 200 lives, including 21 Army
personnel. Fourteen Army personnel have been reported missing
and several injured. Despite casualties to own troops and
damage to buildings and other structures, the Army swung
into action almost immediately after the quake struck the
region. The Army is providing relief in Uri, Rampur, Baramullah,
Naogaon, Tanghdhar, Poonch and other areas. Eighty percent
of the houses in Uri have been destroyed, according to official
reports. Civilians are being providing medical aid at camps
established in Uri and Poonch and other areas. Tentage accommodation
has also been established at these locations. Civilians
are being provided rations, medicines and blankets. Army
patrols have been dispatched with medical staff to the remote
areas also. The Army is utilizing the helicopters of the
Indian Air Force to move doctors and medical teams to the
affected regions and to evacuate the seriously injured.
Over 20 seriously injured civilians have been evacuated
to Srinagar for medical aid from Uri alone. The Armys Engineer
Task forces have been deployed to clear landslides and debris.
The road to Uri from Barammulah was cleared of roadblocks
by this afternoon. Joint Control Rooms have been established
with civil Administration and Police at Srinagar, Baramullah
and Uri.
Pakistan
quake toll 1000, rain hampers rescue (Go
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Muzaffarabad/Islamabad:
Heavy rains have deluged Muzaffarabad, the capital of
Pakistan-administered Kashmir, hampering rescue efforts
in the aftermath of the earthquake measuring between 7.4
and 7.9 on the open-ended Richter Scale that hit parts of
Pakistan and Northern India on Saturday morning. According
to details, the rains are giving tough time to the rescue
workers. The suspension of electricity has added to the
woes of the workers and others engaged in retrieving the
trapped bodies under the debris. More than 1000 people are
feared killed and thousands injured across Pakistan,President
Pervez Musharraf's military spokesman, Major-General Shaukat
Sultan, said. Talking to newsmen after visiting the Margella
Towers in the posh F-10 sector of Islamabad, which lost
one of its four 10-storey blocks in the quake, Interior
Minister Aftab Sherpao informed that a large number of villages
and buildings had collapsed in Northwestern Frontier Province
(NWFP) and in Pakistan- administered Kashmir. The massive
tremors with an epicenter some 95 kilometers north of Islamabad
lasted for at least two minutes, followed by several aftershocks.
Sherpao asserted that they were still receiving reports
about casualties from different parts of the country. At
least two school buildings in Rawalpindi were damaged resulting
in the death of one girl and injuries to scores of others.
Some three villages in were also razed to ground. According
to Pakistan's private GEO TV, at least 25o people have been
reported killed in different cities and towns of Pakistan-
administered Kashmir, including the capital Muzaffarabad
mainly because of the landslides. The shocks also caused
several land-slides in the far northern towns of Skardu,
Kohistan and Chitral, forcing the closure of several important
roads. The officials at the Ayub Medical Complex in Abbottabad,
about 122 kms north of Islamabad, have confirmed at least
12 dead with hundreds of others being treated for injuries.
Chief administrator of northern district of Batgram, Khanzada
Khan said nearly 20 villages of the total 97 in his area
have been completely destroyed. He confirmed that 22 people
had died in the area. Khan also said that there is not a
single structure which has not been damaged. The state-run
Pakistan TV said that the northern town of Mansehra district
had reported up to 50 deaths in the area, including nine
children, when the roof of their school caved in.
Emergency
clamped in NWFP following quake (Go
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Islamabad:
Pakistan has clamped emergency in the North West Frontier
Province in the wake of the widespread damage caused as
a result of the earthquakes and has ordered relief work
with immediate effect. Northern areas, Mansehra, Butgram,
Kohistan and Swat were among the areas in the NWFP that
were the hardest hit and witnessed massive destruction as
most of the thatched houses caved in, wounding many persons.
Butgram was also reported to have suffered heavy loss of
lives and property, and following which the provincial government
pronounced emergency immediately, reports The News. Reports
said that as many as eight persons including four children
received injuries in different areas and were admitted to
Lady Reading Hospital. NWFP Chief Minister, Akram Khan Durrani
has directed to start relief works on emergency basis in
the affected areas. Meteorological Department reports said
that Peshawar underwent seven jolts during the consecutive
waves of earthquakes.
Bridges
collapse: Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service hit (Go
To Top)
By Bilal Butt
Srinagar:
Saturday's earthquake measuring between 7.4 and 7.9 on the
open-ended Richter Scale has brought the historic bus service
running between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad to a temporary,
but grinding halt. Informed sources were quoted as saying
that the key bridge at Hanjiwara, located 23 km north of
Baramullah and several other bridges dotting the highway
between Srinagar and Uri have suffered extensive damage
due to landslides caused by the quake. The town of Uri,
which is located close to the epicentre of Saturday's earthquake
-- Shipal Masjid in the western half of Muzaffarabad --
has lost nearly 80 percent of its dwellings. On the Pakistan
side, the bridge at Chakothi and the Lal Pul (Red Bridge)
have also been damaged pretty badly, informed sources said,
while confirming that the bus service between Muzaffarabad
and Srinagar would not be operating for some time till the
situation was brought under control and the repair work
completed. The Jammu-Srinagar highway has also been shut
down as rocks have fallen on the road. The bus service between
Srinagar and Muzaffarabad was launched on April 7 this year,
nearly two months after the Foreign Ministers of India and
Pakistan firmed up the logistical modalities for the historic
service. Over 20 people people undertook the journey, the
first in 58 years. Since then, the service has been operating
at intervals of two months after verification from consular
authorities in both countries. Saturday's quake has all
but demolished the towns of Baramullah and Uri in Kashmir.
Over 100 deaths have been reported in Uri alone. Many others
have been injured, and there has been extensive damage to
property.
