Earth tremors jolt northern Pakistan

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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There was a moderate earth tremor yesterday in the Northern Areas, apparently a part of the Karokorum Highway has been closed. I wonder if anyone has got further information about this.

Earth tremors jolt northern Pakistan](http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=94806)

Pakistan’s northern areas were jolted by a series of moderate earth tremors which damaged a main highway but there were no immediate reports of casualties, officials said today.

“A series of moderate tremors have been felt in Gilgit, 650 kilometers north of Peshawar, but we have no immediate reports of casualties,” Mohammad Akram of the Peshawar Seismological Department told AFP.

Akram said the epicentre of the quake was in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, and the strongest tremor was measured at 5.0 on the Richter scale. Local officials said a portion of the strategic Karakoram Highway was swept away near Tatta Pani. The highway links Pakistan and China.

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This has been reported by the BBC and Reuters, and 10 people have already been killed.

**10 Killed As Quake Rocks Pakistan **

A moderate earthquake jolted northern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 48, many of them critically, officials said. The magnitude-4.5 quake hit near Gilgit, about 125 miles north of Islamabad, said Chaudhry Mehmood Arif, an official in the Seismic Center in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The tremor was an aftershock from quakes Saturday that shook the town of Skardu, 75 miles southeast of Gilgit, Arif said. Four villages, with a total population of 1,500, were most affected by the tremors, Information Minister Nisar Memon said. Several homes were destroyed, and 10 bodies were found in the rubble, he said. The Pakistan military took many of the injured out by helicopter after landslides blocked the only road leading to the quake site. The tremors also damaged a portion of the northern highway that runs the length of Pakistan to China, according to The Associated Press of Pakistan. A series of tremors have rumbled through northern Pakistan over the past 24 hours, shaking the foundations of fragile mud homes that cling to mountainsides. The remoteness of the region makes it impossible to know quickly the full extent of the damage. But the area is sparsely populated. Emergency personnel have been sent to the area to try to provide temporary shelter for those whose homes have been destroyed, the government-run news agency said.

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Sad :teary3:

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A second powerful Earthquake has hit the Northern Areas, 25 people are known to be killed with many hundreds injured.

Pakistan army moves hundreds of people injured in earthquake to hospitals](http://www.canada.com/news/story.asp?id={B51D8DF2-16AB-47CB-9490-444C454BC03C})

Saturday, November 23, 2002

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - Army helicopters airlifted hundreds of injured to field hospitals Saturday, as more tents and blankets were delivered to thousands of villagers living outside in bitterly cold conditions after an earthquake in northern Pakistan.

The quake Thursday destroyed most of five villages in the remote Astore Valley in the Himalayan foothills, killing at least 25 people and injuring hundreds. Officials said about 1,000 homes were destroyed, and aftershocks that rumbled through the region for more than 24 hours left residents whose houses were still standing too scared to return to them.

Military helicopters have been ferrying medical aid, food and other supplies to the area after roads were cut by landslides caused by the temblor, which registered 5.8. "Hundreds of wounded people have been evacuated from the worst affected villages to relief camps established by the Pakistan army in collaboration with the civil administration," the military said in a statement Saturday.

“The army helicopters have also delivered tents and blankets to thousands left homeless in below freezing temperature,” it said. Government officials said at least 14 children were among the dead, and that the death toll may rise as relief crews sift through the rubble. Information Minister Nisar Memon, who visited the area by helicopter Friday, said many of the people killed were crushed when their houses collapsed as they slept.

Pakistan’s Meteorological Department said the quake’s magnitude was 5.5. The U.S. Geologic Survey in Golden, Colorado, said the earthquake measured 5.8, and put the epicentre at about 50 kilometres south-southeast of Gilgit, a regional centre. Earlier this month, Pakistan’s north was hit by a moderate earthquake that killed at least 10 people and injured 48 others.

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Help Continues…

Relief Work In Quake-Hit Areas Continues

ISLAMABAD: The earthquake-affected areas in northern Pakistan continued receiving aftershocks, on the third consecutive day on Saturday forcing the scared residents to stay out in freezing cold. Despite the freezing cold and land-sliding, a massive relief operation launched by the Pakistan Army continued with the military helicopters working round the clock to evacuate the people from the hard to reach areas.

An ISPR spokesman said emergency aid is being provided through Army helicopters and hundreds of wounded people have been evacuated from the worst-affected villages, to relief camps established in collaboration with the civil administration.

**MI-17 helicopters are delivering tents, blankets and ferrying food aid, to affected areas, brought in by three C-130 transport aircraft from Islamabad. Major-General Nadeem Ahmed, Commander FCNA, who is supervising the relief operation, has said all possible measures are being taken to provide succor to the victims.

Army officers and Jawans have reached inaccessible hamlets to evacuate the victims and to provide them necessary medical aid, he said. Aftershocks and a tremor measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale on Friday caused injuries to another five, increasing the total number to 35. The relief operations were hindered as with each tremor dust clouds rose to the sky, cutting down visibility.**

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12 killed in Pakistan landslide (Northern Areas)](http://www.irna.com/en/head/030502193844.ehe.shtml) IRNA 02 May 03

Islamabad, May 2, IRNA - At least 12 members of a family were killed and three others injured in a landslide in the Pakistan northern mountainous Kohistan area early Friday, reports from the area said. A mountain fell on a house at Ronala village, some 300 kilometers northeast of capital Islamabad, killing and injuring all the inmates, said a police officer Nazeer Ahmed Khan, according to local South Asian News Agency.

Khan said that the landslide occurred late last night when members of a family of was sleeping. Those who died included four women and children, of age between 5 to 10 years. Police officer and the people rushed to the site and took part in rescue operation. Kohistan is located on the Karakuram Highway, the main road linking Pakistan’s northern areas with China. The area falls in the earthquake zone and had been hit by earthquakes several times.

The area has been receiving heavy rains for three days and locals
said the rains are heavy in recent years The rains have caused flood
in some areas and disrupted electricity and telephone system. A large number of people attended funeral of the deceased and religious and political parties have demanded of the government to provide financial help to the remaining family members.

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PAKISTAN: Last year’s earthquake victims to be resettled](http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33798&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN) IRIN

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

ISLAMABAD, 30 Apr 2003 (IRIN) - Thousands of victims from last November’s earthquakes which rocked parts of Pakistan’s Northern Areas are to be returned to where they lived and will receive compensation from the government. “The government will provide the complete infrastructure of roads and power, and help rebuild their homes,” the public relations officer for the Ministry of Northern Affairs, Abdul Akbar, told IRIN in the capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday.

[thumb=B]pakearthquake.JPG[/thumb]
Hundreds of families living in tents over the harsh Hindu Kush winter following an earthquake last November are to be helped to rebuild their homes

Several tremors in the Astor valley, measuring up to 5.8 on the Richter scale, affected some 14,000 people, left hundreds homeless and living in tents, because they were too scared to stay in their own homes, following the jolts which damaged the buildings leaving them unstable. At least 30 people died, as a result of the quakes. At that time the government evacuated nearly 2,000 people from vulnerable areas and relocated them to a camp at Guner Farm, some 100 km from Gilgit, the administrative capital of the Northern Areas.

However, Akbar said there was a dispute over the amount of cash compensation for the villagers. “People were demanding 100,000 rupees [US $1,500] per family, but the government is offering up to 5,000 rupees per family.” He added that he hoped they would reach an agreement soon. “The two parties will be negotiating over this amount and, maybe they can reach another amount of around 30,000 rupees.”

Asked why the government had taken so long in announcing a compensation package, he replied: “This takes a lot of planning. Their immediate needs have been addressed, and they are satisfied with this initial stage of help,” he replied.

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Another Earthquake has hit Northern Areas of Pakistan.

20 killed by quake in Pakistan](http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1483972,00.html) News24, SA. 14 Feb 04

Peshawar, Pakistan - Twenty people died and dozens were injured after a powerful earthquake and aftershock hit northern Pakistan on Saturday, interior ministry officials told reporters. More than 100 homes collapsed in Pakistan’s North West Frontier province after the quake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale hit at 15:30 (10:30 GMT), followed by an aftershock measuring 5.5.

The earthquake’s epicentre was 200km northeast of Peshawar, capital of the province bordering Afghanistan, seismologists said. “Some 20 people have died, including ten in a passenger van when it was caught in a landslide in the northern town of Batgram,” said Brigadier Javed Cheema, head of the ministry’s National Crisis Management Cell. The van crashed into a ravine after being struck by a falling boulder in Batgram, 120km north of Islamabad, he said. The rest of the victims were killed by collapsing buildings.

Cracks appeared
**Cracks have appeared in hundreds of buildings and roads have also been damaged, Cheema said. The provincial administration has launched a relief operation and efforts are under way to make a full assessment of the damage. Local officials said they had sought immediate assistance from the provincial government to supplement the relief efforts. “The weather is still cold at night and we are trying to arrange alternative shelters for the uprooted families,” a Mansehra district official said. **

The tremors also shook the capital Islamabad, sending families fleeing from their houses. “The tremors were felt in several cities of the northern regions and also in Islamabad and parts of (Pakistan-controlled) Kashmir,” Chaudhry Qamar-uz Zaman, director general of the Meteorological office in Islamabad, told reporters. Tremors were also felt in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, a Indian meteorological department official and witnesses said…

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What a terrible tragedy. May Allah have mercy on the souls of the dead.