Quake rattles northern Pakistan; two dead

At least 90 injured in K-P, G-B and FATA; another 12 hurt in Afghanistan

SHABQADAR/ GILGIT/ PESHAWAR:

Two persons were killed and dozens injured when a major earthquake shook northern Pakistan before dawn on Saturday two months after a 7.5-magnitude temblor killed nearly 400 people in the same region.

The earthquake was centred in the Hindu Kush — the 800km mountain range that stretches between central Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, it measured 6.9 on the Richter scale and was at a depth of 197 kilometres.

However, the United States Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.3, with a depth of 203.5 kilometres, sending people fleeing from shaking buildings into a bitterly cold night and prompting fears of aftershocks. Tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi, officials said.



The epicentre of the quake was in the remote Afghan province of Badakhshan, close to the Pakistan-Tajikistan border. Strong shocks were felt in the Afghan capital Kabul and in Islamabad, Officials said the shockwaves hit Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Punjab.

While no deaths were reported in K-P, a woman was killed in G-B and a security official in Fata, with reports of nearly 90 people injured in the three parts of the country.

A woman was killed and a man and a minor were injured when the roof of their house collapsed in Dobair tehsil of G-B’s Ghizer Valley. Separately, a security official was killed and another injured in a bunker collapse in the Suran Dara area of Mohmand Agency.

K-P’s disaster management officials said 81 injured people were brought to hospitals across the province: 48 in Peshawar, 17 in Swat and eight each in Hangu and Mardan.

In Afghanistan, initial information suggested that at least 45 houses were damaged in Badakhshan.


Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2015.