On shaky ground: 6.2 temblor jolts K-P; kills woman

PDMA unaware of casualty, says it heard nothing from Swabi district administration

PESHAWAR: A woman was killed and a child injured on Sunday night in the 6.2 magnitude earthquake that jolted Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The province has yet to recover from the October 26 devastation.

Officials of the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said the epicentre of the quake was at the Afghanistan–Tajikistan Border at a depth of 86 kilometres.

“The disaster occurred at 11:16pm on Sunday, November 22 and shocks were felt as far as K-P, Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad,” said the official.

A woman died and a four-year-old child suffered injuries in Tarakai union council in Swabi. Kalu Khan police reported that a roof caved in during the earthquake in Danduqa village. “The house was owned by Arif. The deceased was identified as his wife and the injured child was his niece,” an official said. Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Spokesperson Latifur Rehman was unaware of the incident. “We have not received any such information from the district administration of Swabi yet,” he said.

Locals throughout K-P, including Peshawar, rushed out of their houses into the open as they felt the tremors. “I still feel like the ground is shaking after the last earthquake which was far more intense, but I started running regardless when I saw things in my room shaking,” said Asmat Shah, a resident of Saddar.

“I was not the only one on the staircase. Everyone in the building was running down to open spaces because they were terrified after the previous earthquake,” Shah added. In Dir, Buner, Swat, Chitral, Shangla, Malakand and Hangu, people also left their rooms in panic.

Rehman told The Express Tribune, “We immediately contacted our offices and district administration in Malakand Division because we were afraid of the destruction on this side. Fortunately no damage has been reported so far from Malakand.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th,  2015.