Pakistan, India Are Hit by 7.6 Magnitude Earthquake
2005 10 08
Bloomberg | bloomberg.com
A bird eye view shows the collapsed 10-story apartment building following a severe earthquake which hit Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, Oct 8, 2005. [AP] |
Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan and India were rocked by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake, one of the biggest to strike the region. A Pakistani military spokesman said 1,000 people may have died, while Indian police said more than 150 were feared dead.
The earthquake, 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep, struck at 8:50 a.m. local time 95 kilometers north-north east of Pakistan's capital Islamabad, which has a population of more than 500,000, and 125 kilometers west-northwest of Srinagar in the disputed territory of Kashmir in India, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site.
``We are still assessing the numbers,'' Pakistan's military spokesman General Shaukat Sultan said in a telephone interview. ``The death toll might reach around 1,000.'' Military personnel were being deployed for relief and rescue efforts in the affected areas, he said.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said on GEO Television that hundreds of people had died, with whole villages wiped out. Dozens were trapped in a collapsed building in Islamabad.
``With such a high-intensity earthquake, the damage to life and property is expected to be huge,'' said Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, director general at the Pakistan Meteorological Department in Islamabad.
Indian Casualties
In India, more than 150 were feared dead in Jammu & Kashmir state, with most of the fatalities in Uri and the Kupwara Tangra region, Srinagar police said in a statement. At least 70 were injured in the area, NDTV reported earlier, citing government officials it didn't identify.
More than 20 army personnel were killed and 33 injured in along the Line of Control, Lt. Col. P. Sehgal said in a phone interview from Srinagar. The Line of Control separates the Indian and Pakistani parts of Kashmir.
India's Prime Minster Manmohan Singh pledged federal support and assistance in relief and rehabilitation, his office said in a news release sent by e-mail. ``The armed forces and the paramilitary forces are already assisting in providing relief to those affected in the disaster in close coordination with the state government,'' it said.
The Indian army was conducting rescue operations in Uri town in the state, NDTV said. The road from Srinagar to Uri was blocked by landslides. Buildings also collapsed in Baramulla town. The Jammu-to-Srinagar highway, which was closed because of landslides, reopened in the evening, the channel reported.
In Afghanistan, two children were killed and nearly a dozen injured when mud-brick houses came down in Jalalabad across the border from Pakistan, Agence France-Presse reported.
In Islamabad, part of an apartment building called Margalla Towers collapsed, causing an unknown number of casualties, officials told Bloomberg News at the site.
Rescue Helicopters
Pakistan's government is sending helicopters to help rescue people, military spokesman Sultan said on television. A village north of the capital was completely leveled, he said. President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have asked paramilitary forces and other rescue workers to speed up rescue operations in the affected areas, GEO TV said.
Musharraf, who visited the collapsed Margalla Towers apartment block, said the earthquake was a test for the nation, according to the News Web site. ``In the overall context, it is a test for all of us, the entire nation, and we are sure we will qualify this test,'' Musharraf said.
Prime Minister Aziz announced a relief fund for earthquake victims at the Prime Minister's Secretariat, which will receive donations and relief items.
Ready to Assist
India is ready to offer assistance if Pakistan seeks help, Sriprakash Jaiswal, junior home minister, told the AajTak television channel.
The U.S. will provide $100,000 in emergency relief funds to assist communities and individuals in the region affected by the earthquake, a statement by U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said.
Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state in India, has a population of more than 800,000, the USGS said in its e-mail alert on the earthquake. Rawalpindi, adjacent to Islamabad in Pakistan, has a population of about 2 million.
Muzaffarabad, the capital of the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan and ringed by mountains, has a population of 90,000 people, according to the Worldisround Web site.
The earthquake, felt 750 kilometers away in New Delhi in India, is the world's biggest since a 7.7 magnitude tremor struck the New Ireland region in Papua New Guinea on Sept. 9.
Eurasian, Indian Plates
Earthquakes are common in northern India and Pakistan, where the Eurasian and Indian plates meet. The collision of those plates created the Himalaya, the world's highest mountain range.
In October 1991, a magnitude 7 earthquake in northern India left 2,000 people dead, according to USGS. A 6.2 magnitude in December 1974 in north Pakistan killed 5,300 people.
Other parts of Pakistan have also suffered big earthquakes. In 1935, the southern city of Quetta was leveled by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake that killed 60,000 people.
The latest tremor was a ``thrust'' quake caused by friction as the Indian plate pushes against the Eurasian one, David Applegate, senior science adviser for earthquake and geologic hazards at the USGS, told Cable News Network.
``It appears to be one of the most high-intensity earthquakes felt in Pakistan,'' said Muhammad Hanif, a spokesman for Pakistan's meteorological department.
Aftershocks
Aftershocks are continuing. A total of 19 aftershocks were felt, said Chaudhry of the Pakistan Meteorological Department. Six tremors of 5 magnitude or greater were felt in the region, he said. The biggest, of 5.9 magnitude, struck 130 kilometers north of Islamabad at 9:26 local time, the USGS said.
``Another major tremor was felt at about 4 p.m. local time, which could be of 6 or more intensity,'' said Chaudhry. He said the intensity of the morning earthquake was the highest in the region in the past 100 years. The last one measured at 8 was in 1905.
Many people in Islamabad and other areas stayed outside, afraid to go back indoors after leaving their homes during the main shock, which lasted about six minutes.
The aftershocks are expected to continue for the next two days, Anjum Bari, a director at the meteorological department in Islamabad, said in a telephone interview.
Emergency numbers for earthquake information announced on Pakistan Television are: +92-51-921 3891 and +92-51-922 2666.
The Indian Home Ministry's Crisis Management Center Control Room phone number is +91-11-2309 3563.
Article from: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news
?pid=10000080&sid=aQ0RUapVqxM8&refer=asia
Moderate earthquake rocks El Salvador, collapses bridge in Guatemala
AP | signonsandiego.com
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – A moderate earthquake rocked Central America on Friday, causing the collapse of a rain-damaged highway bridge in Guatemala and sending thousands of frightened Salvadoran residents into the streets.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from the preliminary-magnitude 5.8 quake in either of the two countries, where nearly 230 people have died during five days of floods and landslides. A magnitude-5 earthquake can cause considerable damage.
Telephone service was cut off briefly in some areas of El Salvador, and Interior Minister Rene Figueroa urged residents to obey evacuation orders for high-risk areas.
The quake forced officials to suspend their search for two coffee workers missing since Saturday when the Ilamatepec volcano erupted about 40 miles west of the capital, San Salvador.
The death toll throughout Central America from flooding and landslides already has reached 241: 160 in Guatemala, 67 in El Salvador, and 14 all together in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
With supplies of food and water running low, governments in Central America and Mexico scrambled Friday to reach isolated areas devastated by a week of intense rains. Residents who spoke to reporters via cell phone said panic was starting to grow among survivors.
The earthquake was centered 35 miles southwest of San Salvador, just offshore, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.
Article from: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/
world/20051007-1457-salvador-quake.html
Sleepy volcano in Aleutians wakes up
AP | ktva.com
 According to the Associated Press, a sleepy volcano in the Aleutian Islands is waking up. The Alaska Volcano Observatory says the volcano on Tanaga Island began stirring this month with tiny earthquakes.
Volcanologist Rick Wessels of the US Geological Survey says the tiny earthquakes are the first sign of volcanic unrest since the observatory wired the volcano's cone with a network of sensors two years ago.
The volcano last erupted in 1914. Wessels says most Aleutian volcanoes produce tiny quakes every day. But he says Tanaga has been remarkably quiet for reasons that remain unclear.
Article from: http://www.ktva.com/Stories/0,1413,163~34723~3084688,00.html
|
