Pakistan rescuers recover 160 bodies after quake

[cmelbouzaidi]

:salam2:
May ALLAH ease our brothers' and sisters' suffering :tti_sister:


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KARACHI (Reuters) – Pakistani rescuers have pulled 160 bodies from the rubble of mud-walled homes in Baluchistan province after a powerful earthquake hit the area on Wednesday, a district government official said.

"Our rescuers are still working but we've recovered 160 bodies from various villages in Ziarat," said the district's chief administrator, Dilawar Khan.

Ziarat is a scenic valley, one of Baluchistan's main tourist spots, 70 km (45 miles) northeast of the provincial capital, Quetta.

(Reporting by Gul Yousafzai; Editing by Robert Birsel and Sanjeev Miglani)

 

[yameenahmed]

DUA for the umma is necessary

Pakistan quake kills 135, more deaths feared: officials



QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) — At least 135 people were killed when a powerful earthquake struck southwest Pakistan early Wednesday, destroying mud homes and sending survivors screaming into the streets in panic.

At least eight villages were badly hit in the 6.4-magnitude quake, police and officials said, warning that the death toll could rise as rescue workers reached villages in the remote mountainous region bordering Afghanistan.

It struck just after 5:00 am (2300 GMT Tuesday) and left scores more people injured, local authorities said.

Most of the deaths were in outlying villages, as mud houses were destroyed and the tremors triggered landslides of rocks and boulders while people slept in their beds.

In Quetta, the nearest big town, witnesses said people fled screaming from their homes. Television footage showed many outside in the streets, wrapped up against the early morning chill.

"So far 135 bodies have been recovered from the area, many more have been injured," said Dilawar Khan Kakar, mayor of the historic hill town of Ziarat, which is about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Quetta.

He added: "The rescue work is going on and more casualties are feared."

Six people were killed in the nearby district of Pishin, police there said.

Mohammed Sultan, from the town of Sanjawai, told AFP the first tremor shook him awake from his deep sleep shortly before 5:00am, before he felt a larger shockwave about 10 minutes later.

In Ziarat buildings had collapsed and communications had been cut, he said, adding: "The town looks devastated. Parts of it are badly damaged.

"My relatives live in Ziarat but I can't contact them to find out how they are."

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 5:09 am and measured 6.2, later revising the magnitude to 6.4. The Pakistan Meteorological Office put it at 6.5.

The epicentre was located some 70 kilometres north of Quetta in Baluchistan province, about 185 kilometres southeast of the Afghan city of Kandahar, they added.

A Pakistani military spokesman said some 250 troops and two helicopters had been sent from Quetta to Ziarat, while an aerial assessment of the damage was also underway. Immediate medical help was also dispatched.

"The destruction is heavy, people need immediate help and we are providing assistance to the affected people," Colonel Mohammed Babar, who flew over the region, told AFP.

Retired Lieutenant General Faruq Ahmed, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, said tents, blankets and food had been sent to the area along with medical teams to treat the injured.

"Two army hospitals and three C-130 aircraft are at standby. They will be flown should there be a need," he added.

Aftershocks were still being felt in the region throughout the morning, the Pakistan Meteorological Office said.

In Kandahar, provincial police chief Mutihullah Khan Qatah said people had felt the quake, which struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, "but we don't yet have any reports of casualties or damage to buildings".

Officials were trying to contact their counterparts in outlying areas, he added.

Ziarat is a historic hill resort famed for its juniper forests. It receives visitors from all over Pakistan in summer who come to see the holiday home of the country's founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

Most of the casualties were from two villages built on steep ground on the outskirts of the town.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million in October 2005.

In 1935 a massive quake killed around 30,000 people in Quetta, which at the time was part of British-ruled India.

 

[Almaas]

Pakistan survivors wait for aid

Asalaam-ualykum.

They really need a Dua's, as if things could get any worse.

Ya Rabil Alameen please help them. :tti_sister:

Walykum-asalaam.

Pakistan survivors wait for aid ​

Thousands of villagers who survived the earthquake that hit south-western Pakistan have spent a night in the open in freezing cold waiting for relief.

Over 200 people are now known to have died in the earthquake, which hit Balochistan province on Wednesday.

Aid is being brought in for the homeless survivors, although aftershocks and blocked roads have hampered the operation.

Rescue workers say there is little hope of finding survivors in the debris.

The earthquake of 6.4 magnitude destroyed the mud and timber houses, triggered landslides and buried people as they slept in the scenic but poor province.

Rescue workers said the search for survivors was nearing its end.

'Life is worthless'

"Almost all the rubble had been cleared by last night," Balochistan interior secretary Shaukat Ali told the Associated Press news agency

We don't know if anyone is still buried in the debris."

The worst-hit area appeared to be Ziarat, about 50km north of Quetta, where hundreds of mostly mud and timber houses have been destroyed in five villages.

Many survivors, who spent the night in the open warming themselves by lighting fires, said they were still waiting for aid.

"It was so cold at night we thought we would freeze," Qadir, a survivor, told the AFP news agency in Kawaz, a village near the town of Ziarat.

"We have been waiting for help but we have no tent, no food, no medicine for my children."

Abdul Nadir Khan, 40, a driver, said it would be difficult to stay out nights in the cold.

"We have no belongings to survive. We are short of blankets with no shelter to pass these cold nights," he said.

Other survivors like Irshad Ahmed, a government official, said people were sleeping in the open because they feared another earthquake in the area.

"I have got my family in this open playground to sleep because you never know when the earthquake could return," he said.

Relief material is being transported by road and flown in by helicopter to the remote mountainous region at the centre of the quake.

They include tents, blankets and clothes, all essential with winter's freezing nights approaching.

Many of the villagers have dug mass graves and buried their dead in the affected villages.

Haji Shahbaz, a man from Wam village, said he had lost 17 relatives in the quake.

"Nothing is left here, and now life is worthless for me," he said.

International and Pakistani agencies say they are trying to get relief material to the survivors.

Neighbouring India and the US have also offered help.

The tremor struck 70km (45 miles) north of Quetta at 0409 (2309GMT Tuesday) at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles), the US Geological Survey said.

In 1935, Quetta suffered almost complete destruction in an earthquake which claimed the lives of about 30,000 people.

More than 73,000 people were killed in an earthquake in north-west Pakistan in October 2005 and almost an equal number were seriously injured.