Quake in South Asia kills over 200 – Magnitude 7.5 earthquake centered in NE Afghanistan

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 26, (Agencies): A powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake which rocked parts of South Asia killed 215 people Monday, including 12 Afghan girls crushed in a stampede as they fled their collapsing school. Meanwhile, all Kuwaiti citizens and the members of the Kuwaiti mission to Pakistan are safe, said Kuwaiti ambassador to Pakistan Ambassador Nawaf Abdulaziz Al-Enezi.

The Kuwaiti Embassy in Islamabad advised the citizens who are in the friendly Islamic Republic of Pakistan to exercise caution and to communicate with the embassy in case of any emergency. Kuwait’s embassy in India has contacted the concerned authorities there to ensure safety of Kuwaiti nationals in the wake of the earthquake that hit the country on Monday, Ambassador Fahad Al-Awadi said. No Kuwaiti was affected by the earthquake which rattled many of northern Indian states including New Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, the embassy said in a statement to KUNA.

The embassy urged all Kuwaitis in India to contact it through hot-line numbers operating around the clock to ensure their safety and offer them help “at this time of distress.” Officials at the embassy are continuously following up the situation, keeping in touch with the concerned authorities to take stock of latest developments and take necessary action, the statement noted. The following are the hot-line numbers for any emergency and support: 09650656017, 01146100700.

At least 1,000 more were injured and hundreds of homes destroyed as the quake shook a swathe of the subcontinent, sending thousands of frightened people rushing into the streets in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. It was centred near Jurm in northeast Afghanistan, 250 kms (160 miles) from the capital Kabul and at a depth of 213.5 kms, the US Geological Survey said. “Initial reports show a big loss of life, huge financial losses in Badakhshan, Takhar, Nangarhar, Kunar and other regions, including the capital Kabul,” said Afghanistan’s chief executive Abdullah Abdullah. At least 63 people were confirmed dead in Afghanistan and 152 in Pakistan, according to officials, with the toll set to rise.

“Exact numbers are not known because phone lines are down and communication has been cut off in many areas,” Abdullah said, adding that the government has asked aid agencies for relief. “The quake wreaked huge devastation in some districts,” said the governor of Badakhshan province, Shah Wali Adib. “So far 1,500 homes are reported to be damaged or destroyed.” Horrifying news emerged of at least 12 schoolgirls being trampled to death in a northern Afghan province. “The students rushed to escape the school building in Taluqan city (capital of Takhar), triggering a stampede,” Takhar education department chief Enayat Naweed told AFP. “Twelve students, all minors, were killed and 35 others were injured.” Arbab Muhammad Asim, district mayor for Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, said more than 100 people had been injured there alone. “Many houses and buildings have collapsed in the city,” he said.

Dr Muhammad Sadiq, the head of emergency services at a government hospital in Peshawar said the injured were still being brought in. “Many are still under rubble,” Sadiq told AFP. “The building was swinging like a pendulum, it felt as if the heavens would fall,” Peshawar shop owner Tufail Ahmed told AFP. “I have never seen such a massive earthquake in my life, it was huge,” 87- year-old Peshwar resident Mohammad Rehman said. The quake, which lasted at least one minute, shook buildings in Kabul, Islamabad and New Delhi. Traffic came to a halt in downtown Kabul, with frightened people getting out of their cars as they waited for the quake to stop.

Live footage from an Afghan news broadcast showed the anchor abandoning his desk as the quake shook the cameras. Restaurants and office buildings emptied in Islamabad, with cracks appearing in some buildings but no major damage reported. “We grabbed each other and were crying, we could not do anything, I felt so helpless,” 16-year-old student Farhana Parveen, whose Islamabad school was evacuated, told AFP. “I had the scary feeling that the whole world would collapse.” Hundreds of people in north India poured onto the streets from office blocks, hospitals and homes. Delhi’s metro ground to a halt during the tremor although the airport continued operating. In the Kashmir region, panicked residents evacuated buildings and children were seen huddling together outside their school in the main city of Srinagar. The rescue effort was being complicated by the lack of communications, with the region’s already fragile infrastructure hit.

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