00:00 Deadly Afghanistan Earthquake Rocks South Asia

[DaZahroJaam.]

A deadly 7.5-magnitude earthquake rocked northern Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India this morning, so far killing dozens.

The death toll is still in flux, with The Associated Press now reporting that more than 150 people died as a result of the quake. The AP cites Pakistani officials who say at least 147 people were killed and about 600 others were injured, while Afghan officials say 33 people died in their country and more than 200 others wounded.
The victims include at least 12 students at a girl's school in Afghanistan's Takhar province, and five people in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have reportedly died in collapsed houses, according to a rescue official. One other person died because of a fallen roof, according to state-run Pakistani TV.

U.S. Geological Survey listed the earthquake in Afghanistan at an "orange alert level."

“Significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread," the agency said. "Past events with this alert level have required a regional or national level response.”

The quake was roughly 133 miles deep, USGS geo-physiologist Zachary Reeves told ABC News.

"Being deeper helps negate the impact at the surface, because it has to travel further to get to the surface," Reeves said.

About 931,807 people live within 62 miles of the quake, according to the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System.

A building has reportedly fallen down in Peshawar, and most of the damage is likely in northern Pakistan. There are also reports of land sliding there and the wall of a school has collapsed, injuring children in a city near Lahore.

The U.S. Embassy officials in Pakistan have released a statement extending condolences to the victims and noted that they are in touch with the National Disaster Management Authority, saying they "are ready to provide assistance if requested."

They also reported that they are unaware of any U.S. citizens "directly impacted by this earthquake."

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in Pakistan in 2005 killed 86,000 and displaced over 2 million.





I copy pasted this with my iPhone so whoever has access to a better article, please share it.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34635634

More than 200 people have died, mostly in Pakistan, after a magnitude-7.5 earthquake hit north-eastern Afghanistan.
Tremors from the quake were also felt in northern India and Tajikistan.
At least 12 of the victims were Afghan schoolgirls killed in a crush as they tried to get out of their building.
The earthquake was centred in the mountainous Hindu Kush region, 76km (45 miles) south of Faizabad, the US Geological Survey reported.
The death toll is set to rise as the most severely affected areas are very remote and communications have been cut off.

In Pakistan, authorities said at least 154 people were known to have died in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province alone, and more than 1,000 were injured.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is cutting short a visit abroad and returning home.
Sunnatullah Timour, a spokesman for the governor of the Afghan province of Takhar, told the BBC that as well as the fatalities at the girls' school, another 25 students were injured in the stampede.
Deaths and injuries have also been reported in the Afghan provinces of Nangarhar, Badakhshan and Kunar, with at least 52 killed in total.
Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah tweeted that the government had asked aid agencies to work with it to help those in need.

However as the earthquake originated more than 200km (125 miles) below the earth's surface, the damage is less than that which a similarly powerful but shallow tremor might cause.
In the city of Karimabad, in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan, a witness who gave his name as Anas told the BBC that the quake had sent a landslide crashing into the Hunza river.
"At first it was as if someone was shaking us. There were about 20 of us and we just held on to each other," he said.
"Right after that we saw a major landslide. Some people say it was a glacier that came down, some people say it was a hill. It fell right in front of our eyes."
Pakistan Geological Survey head Imran Khan told the BBC there were reports of landslides disrupting the Karakoram highway between Gilgit and Baltistan. However, he said it was too early to say if any glaciers were destabilised by the quake.

Analysis by Jonathan Webb, BBC News science reporter
Even at its revised magnitude of 7.5, this was a powerful tremor. Around the world only about 20 quakes each year, on average, measure greater than 7.0.
But its focus was deep - much further below the surface than the 7.8 quake which brought widespread destruction to eastern Nepal in April. That event was only 8km deep and was followed in early May by an aftershock with magnitude 7.3.
Similarly, the devastating 2005 Kashmir earthquake was magnitude 7.6 and just 26km deep. Today's quake, at a depth of more than 200km, appears to have caused widespread but less severe ground shaking.
Afghan quake: The corner of a continental collision
People in the Indian capital Delhi ran into the streets after the tremor struck, and schools and offices were evacuated. The Delhi metro was also briefly halted.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he had ordered an urgent assessment of any damage.
"We stand ready for assistance where required, including Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said.
Catherine Bhatti, from Durham in the UK, was visiting relatives in Sarghoda, Pakistan, when the quake struck.
"It came out of the blue, everything started to move slightly then it became stronger. We made our way downstairs and gathered outside on the lawn," she told the BBC.
"My in-laws, who have lived here all their lives, say they have never experienced anything like this before."

Buildings in the Tajik capital Dushanbe were damaged by the tremors.
Local media report that a staircase at a school in Tajikistan's Yavan district collapsed, injuring 14 children.
There are also reports of injuries in a stampede at Khorog state university in Tajikistan, as a building was evacuated.
The region has a history of powerful earthquakes caused by the northward collision of India with Eurasia. The two plates are moving towards each other at a rate of 4-5cm per year.
In 2005, a magnitude 7.6 quake in Pakistan-administered Kashmir left more than 75,000 people dead.
In April this year, Nepal suffered its worst earthquake on record with 9,000 people killed and about 900,000 homes damaged or destroyed.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34636269

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

BBC liveblog: http://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-asia-34639268

[Samandri]

The zalzala was very intense, the jolts were too wide, i had hard time running to outside of building. Cracks have appeared in the building, honestly i thought i was goner and was reciting kalma while running with dust of roof from cracks falling on me....

[Da Bannu Mazdigar]

**ul ye ra pakay oba kari v

[randolph85]

Recent reports have Pakistan blaming this calamity on RAW.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

Recent reports have Pakistan blaming this calamity on RAW.

I am sure Zaid Hamid has a theory.