10 die, over 200 injured in powerful Pakistan earthquake

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Strong quake has people fleeing homes in Pakistan and Afghanistan: Dozens of homes damages, cracks appear in buildings: PM Shehbaz orders NDMA to be ready to deal with any emergency: Two killed in Afghanistan

2023-03-22T09:48:00+05:00 News Desk

At least 10 people died and over 200 injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir after a powerful earthquake jolted Pakistan on Tuesday night, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Wednesday.

A strong earthquake lasting for at least 30 seconds was felt across much of Pakistan, Afghanistan and parts of India Tuesday night.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered the National Disaster Management Authority to be ready to deal with any emergency.

Reports of fatalities and damage have started to pour in KP while the disaster management authorities in Punjab and Balochistan have not yet received any report of injuries or casualties.

The earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit Pakistan on Tuesday night, with its epicentre said to be in the Hindukush range in Afghanistan.

According to PDMA officials in KP, the Swat-Kalam Road has also been blocked due to landslides caused by the earthquake.

Swat District Police Officer Shafiullah said that all the staff have been alerted and medical treatment were being provided to all the injured. Emergency has been declared in Swat’s Saidu Sharif Hospital.

Roofs of buildings collapsed and damaged in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, resulting in deaths to nine people. A 12-year-old boy died in Jamrud due to heart attack during the earthquake.

A woman also died of heart attack during the earthquake in Tehsil Theurar of Rawlakot in Azad Kashmir. She was alone in the house when quake struck. She died of severe shock caused by the powerful earthquake.

According to National Seismic Monitoring Centre in Islamabad, the magnitude of the earthquake was 6.8 on Richter Scale and its depth was 181 kms under the ground with epicenter in the Hindukush mountain mountains of Afghanistan.

According to Rescue 1122 official Dr Khatir in Peshawar, five people have been injured in different incidents, including two women. According to him, all the injured have been provided first aid and shifted to a nearby hospital.

Rawalpindi Rescue 1122 Control Room has received a call about five people fainting due to the earthquake due to the earthquake and one person falling from one place.

According to Swat's central hospital, more than 40 injured have been brought there after the earthquake.

According to the Pakistan Institute of Natural Disasters, there have been reports of cracks in high-rise buildings in Rawalpindi and rescue teams have been dispatched to evacuate the affected buildings.

Meanwhile, according to the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad, there are reports of cracks in Khudada Heights of Islamabad.

Khudadad Heights, a vast multi-storey residential block in Islamabad, was evacuated after huge cracks appeared in the building.

- 'We all ran out' -

Frightened people fled their homes as the tremor hit. "People ran out of their houses and were reciting the Holy Quran," said an AFP correspondent in Rawalpindi.

Ikhlaq Kazmi, a retired professor in the city, said his entire house started shaking. "The children started shouting that there is an earthquake," he said. "We all ran out."

At least 180 people who suffered minor injuries were taken to hospitals across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Shahidullah Khan, a senior government official, told AFP.

‘Waiting for aftershock’

In Afghanistan, many families were out of their homes celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year, when the quake struck.

"I heard people screaming and yelling as they came out in the streets," said Masieh, who was outside with his family when the tremor hit.

"It's possible that there could be another tremor so I'm still waiting outside."

Those indoors also quickly left their houses and apartments. "They just fled without wearing shoes, just carrying their children in their hands," an AFP correspondent said.

‘Everything was shaking’

"It was a terrifying tremor. I had never felt such a tremor before in my life," Khatera, 50, a resident of Kabul, told AFP after rushing out of her fifth-storey apartment in the capital.

The USGS said the quake was centred near Jurm in northeastern Afghanistan and had a depth of 187 kilometers (116 miles).

The region is frequently hit by earthquakes -- especially in the Hindukush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

Two people, including a child, were killed in Laghman province, Shafiullah Rahimi, spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Natural Disaster Management, told AFP.

Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said health centres across the country had been put on high alert.

Noor Mohammad Hanifi, a shopkeeper in Kabul, set up tents in a street for his family to spend the night in.

"Nobody dares to go inside their homes," Hanifi told AFP as his family, cloaked in blankets, took shelter. Hanafi said he felt dizzy when the quake hit as he had just returned from a long trip.

"But when I heard the doors and windows shaking I realised it was an earthquake."

In June of last year more than 1,000 people were killed and tens of thousands made homeless after a 5.9-magnitude quake -- the deadliest in Afghanistan in nearly a quarter of a century -- struck the impoverished province of Paktika.

Over 55,000 people were killed by an earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria last month.

Afghanistan is in the grips of a humanitarian disaster made worse by the Taliban takeover of the country in August 2021.

International development funding on which the South Asian country relied dried up after the takeover and assets held abroad were frozen.

Reporters Farooq Ahmad and Jahanzeb Khan/Agencies

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