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Devastating quake kills 20,000 in Pakistan and India
A major earthquake on Saturday morning measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale has devastated cities, towns and villages across northern Pakistan. The official death toll in Pakistan reached 19,369 yesterday with over 42,000 people injured, but casualties are expected to climb further as rescue workers reach outlying areas. Hundreds more were killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The worst affected in both countries were the poor who lived in cheap housing built of mud brick and wood.
Already higher casualty figures are being mooted. Tariq Farooq, Minister for Communication and Works in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir (Azad Kashmir), estimated yesterday that 30,000 had died in that province alone. “There are cities, there are towns which have been completely destroyed. Muzaffarabad [Azad Kashmir’s provincial capital] is devastated,” he said. The death toll in the provincial capital is currently 11,000.
Farooq explained that the worst affected area was Bagh, 40 km southeast of Muzaffarabad where between 6,000 and 7,000 are estimated to have died in the town and adjoining villages. “There are no survivors in villages like Jaglari, Kufalgarh, Harigal and Baniyali in Bagh district,” he told the International News. “People have been devoured by the earth.” Kashmiri Affairs Minister Faisal Hayat said that over half of Azad Kashmir’s population of 2.4 million had been affected by the quake.
Another 9,000 people believed dead in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NSFP), including 7,000 in Hazara. Many of the victims were children attending Saturday morning classes. At least six schools collapsed in the town of Balakot, trapping hundreds of children. Parents and other locals frantically worked with picks, shovels and their bare hands to reach those trapped in the rubble. The death toll is estimated as 2,500 for the Balakot and seven surrounding villages.
A Sydney Morning Herald article explained: “The Balakot region was a scene of devastation. Perhaps half of the concrete houses had collapsed and dozens of bodies lay in the open. Residents complained about the lack of help. The road into the town had been blocked by landslides, and it was only possible to reach it on foot.” Rescue workers had only reached about 40 percent of the areas in Pakistan affected by the quake. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people have been left homeless, without food and medicine and, in some areas, exposed to torrential rain and hailstorms.
The epicentre was near Muzaffarabad and the tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi and Kabul. The quake was followed by about 20 significant aftershocks, measuring up to 6.2 on the Richter scale. In eastern Afghanistan, four children were crushed to death when the mud walls of their home collapsed.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/oct2005/eart-o10.shtml
Farooq explained that the worst affected area was Bagh, 40 km southeast of Muzaffarabad where between 6,000 and 7,000 are estimated to have died in the town and adjoining villages. “There are no survivors in villages like Jaglari, Kufalgarh, Harigal and Baniyali in Bagh district,” he told the International News. “People have been devoured by the earth.” Kashmiri Affairs Minister Faisal Hayat said that over half of Azad Kashmir’s population of 2.4 million had been affected by the quake.
Another 9,000 people believed dead in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NSFP), including 7,000 in Hazara. Many of the victims were children attending Saturday morning classes. At least six schools collapsed in the town of Balakot, trapping hundreds of children. Parents and other locals frantically worked with picks, shovels and their bare hands to reach those trapped in the rubble. The death toll is estimated as 2,500 for the Balakot and seven surrounding villages.
A Sydney Morning Herald article explained: “The Balakot region was a scene of devastation. Perhaps half of the concrete houses had collapsed and dozens of bodies lay in the open. Residents complained about the lack of help. The road into the town had been blocked by landslides, and it was only possible to reach it on foot.” Rescue workers had only reached about 40 percent of the areas in Pakistan affected by the quake. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people have been left homeless, without food and medicine and, in some areas, exposed to torrential rain and hailstorms.
The epicentre was near Muzaffarabad and the tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi and Kabul. The quake was followed by about 20 significant aftershocks, measuring up to 6.2 on the Richter scale. In eastern Afghanistan, four children were crushed to death when the mud walls of their home collapsed.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/oct2005/eart-o10.shtml
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