At least 11 dead after 6.5 magnitude earthquake rattles Pakistan, Afghanistan – National | 24CA News
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake rattled a lot of Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday, sending panicked residents fleeing from houses and workplaces and scary folks in distant villages. At least 11 folks died within the two international locations.
More than 100 folks had been dropped at hospitals within the Swat valley area of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in a state of shock, Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for Pakistan’s emergency providers advised The Associated Press.
“These terrified people collapsed, and some of them collapsed because of the shock of the earthquake,” he mentioned. Faizi mentioned most had been later discharged from the hospital.
Faizi and different officers mentioned 9 folks had been killed when roofs collapsed in varied components of northwestern Pakistan. Dozens of others had been injured within the quake, which was centered in Afghanistan and in addition felt in bordering Tajikistan. The earthquake triggered landslides in a few of the mountainous areas, disrupting site visitors.
Taimoor Khan, a spokesman for the provincial catastrophe administration authority within the northwest, mentioned no less than 19 mudbrick houses collapsed in distant areas. “We are still collecting data about the damages,” he mentioned.
The highly effective tremors despatched many individuals fleeing their houses and workplaces in Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad, some reciting verses from the Quran, Islam’s holy guide. Media experiences advised cracks had appeared in some condo buildings within the metropolis.
In Afghanistan, Sharafat Zaman Amar, Taliban’s appointed spokesman for the general public well being ministry mentioned, up to now no less than two folks died and round 20 others had been injured within the earthquake in Afghanistan.
Zaman Amar mentioned “Unfortunately, there could be more casualties as the quake was so powerful, in most parts of the country” all hospitals and well being services are prepared to avoid wasting lives of individuals, he added.
The scene was repeated in Kabul and different components of Afghanistan.
“The quake was so strong and terrifying, we thought houses are collapsing on us, people were all shouting and were shocked,” mentioned Shafiullah Azimi, a Kabul resident.
Aziz Ahmad, 45, one other Kabul resident, mentioned “In my life this was first time I have experienced such powerful quake, everyone was terrified,” He added he and all his neighbors stayed out of their houses for hours, afraid of aftershocks. “We couldn’t dare to get back homes.”
The U.S. Geological Survey mentioned the epicenter of the magnitude 6.5 quake was 40 kilometers (25 miles) south-southeast of Jurm in Afghanistan’s mountainous Hindukush area, bordering Pakistan and Tajikistan. The quake struck 188 kilometers (116 miles) deep beneath the Earth’s floor, inflicting it to felt over a large space.
Physician Rakhshinda Tauseed was at her hospital within the jap Pakistani metropolis of Lahore when the earthquake hit. “I quickly asked patients to go move to a safer place,” she mentioned.
Khurram Shahzad, a resident in Pakistan’s garrison metropolis of Rawalpindi, mentioned he was having dinner along with his household at a restaurant when the partitions began swaying.
“I quickly thought that it is a big one, and we left the restaurant and came out,” he advised The Associated Press by telephone. He mentioned he noticed lots of of individuals standing on the streets.
The state of affairs was related in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the border with Afghanistan, the place folks had been seen standing outdoors their houses and workplaces.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in a press release mentioned he requested catastrophe administration officers to stay vigilant to deal with any state of affairs.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the principle spokesman for the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, tweeted that the Ministry of Public Health had ordered all well being facilities to be on standby.
The area is liable to violent seismic upheavals. A magnitude 7.6 quake in 2005 killed hundreds of individuals in Pakistan and Kashmir.
Last 12 months in southeastern Afghanistan, a 6.1 magnitude quake struck a rugged, mountainous area, flattening stone and mud-brick houses. Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers put the full loss of life toll from the quake at 1,150, with lots of extra injured, whereas the U.N. has provided a decrease estimate of 770.
Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Islamabad, Riaz Khan in Peshawar and Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
