Posted on 10/07/2005 9:45:14 PM PDT by Strategerist
Magnitude 7.6 PAKISTAN Saturday, October 08, 2005 at 03:50:38 UTC Preliminary Earthquake Report U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center World Data Center for Seismology, Denver The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: A major earthquake occurred about 95 km (60 miles) north-northeast of Islamabad, Pakistan at 9:50 PM MDT, Oct 7, 2005 (Oct 08 at 8:50 AM local time in Pakistan). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. No reports of damage or casualties have been received at this time; however, this earthquake may have caused substantial damage and casualties due to its location and size. The magnitude was furnished by the USGS National Earthquake Information Center. .
In eastern Afghanistan, an 11-year-old girl was crushed to death when a wall in her home collapsed, said police official Gafar Khan.
God's aim seems to be pretty poor, if your hypothesis is to be believed.
Doubt there are many little girls who are rabid Jihadists in the region.
Did you forget to add the /sarc tag???
Sorry to disappoint you.....but there are jihadis among the Muslim children too. You may want to search for the thread on the shootout in Thailand (about 2-3 weeks ago). Muslim terrorists there shot and killed some Thai soldiers and ran into a muslim locality. The Thai army was prevented from going in by muslim women and children (yes, little girls included) who formed a barrier and then allowed the terrorists to escape.
Are all muslim children currently jihadis? No. Are many of them potential terrorists? YES.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051008/ap_on_re_as/pakistan_quake
Quake Kills Hundreds in 3 Asia Countries By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer
20 minutes ago
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake near the Pakistan-India border Saturday reduced villages to rubble, triggered landslides and flattened an apartment building, killing hundreds of people in both nations. Pakistan's army called the devastation "a national tragedy."
In the capitals of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, buildings shook and walls swayed for about a minute, and panicked people ran from their homes and offices. Tremors continued for hours afterward. Communications throughout the region were cut.
Pakistan's Geo television quoted chief army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan as saying 1,000 people were feared dead. Army officials who flew over quake-hit areas reported seeing hundreds of flattened homes in villages north of the capital, Islamabad.
"The damage and casualties could be massive and it is a national tragedy," Sultan told The Associated Press. "This is the worst earthquake in recent times."
The U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site the quake hit at 8:50 a.m. local time and had a magnitude of 7.6. It was centered about 60 miles northeast of Islamabad in the forested mountains of Pakistani Kashmir.
Damage was extensive in Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan territory divided between India and Pakistan. Officials in the Indian-controlled portion reported at least 190 people killed, including 20 soldiers who perished in a landslide. At least 800 people were injured and about 2,700 homes were destroyed or damaged across Jammu-Kashmir, said senior state official B.B. Vyas.
Army soldiers and local volunteers were rescuing people from under the debris of collapsed houses. Telephone lines were down. Bridges had developed cracks, but traffic was passing over them.
The USGS reported at least five aftershocks in Pakistan, with the strongest measuring magnitude 6.3 and located about 70 miles north of Islamabad.
Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz ordered the military to extend "all-out help" to quake-hit areas and appealed to the nation to stay calm. Helicopters took troops to damaged areas, but landslides were hindering rescue efforts.
Musharraf, walking through the rubble in Islamabad, said the air force was deploying C-130 transport planes and 10 helicopters to devastated areas.
At least 500 people were killed and 1,700 injured in four districts in northwestern Pakistan, said provincial police chief Rifat Pasha. He said the toll could rise because rescue teams were still working in areas hit hard by the temblor.
In eastern Afghanistan, an 11-year-old girl was crushed to death when a wall in her home collapsed, said police official Gafar Khan.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said the quake was felt at Bagram, the main American base in Afghanistan, but he had no reports of damage at bases around the country.
The quake brought down a 10-story apartment building in Islamabad and dozens of people were feared trapped in the rubble. Rescuers pulled out at least 20 injured people. Some residents were Westerners, a building employee said.
A man named Rehmatullah who lived nearby said he saw dust from the buckled building from his bathroom window.
"I rushed down, and for some time you could not see anything because of the dust. Then we began to look for people in the rubble," he said. "We pulled out one man by cutting off his legs."
"It was like hell," said Nauman Ali, who lived in a nearby top-floor apartment. "It was terrible. I was tossed up in my bed and the ceiling fan struck against the roof."
Aided by two large cranes, hundreds of police and soldiers helped remove chunks of concrete, one of which was splattered with blood. One rescue worker said he heard faint cries from people trapped in the rubble.
In Abbotabad, north of Islamabad, dozens of quake victims and other patients, some hooked up to intravenous drips, lay on the lawn of the city hospital after officials said aftershocks made it unsafe to stay inside. Hospital staff used loudspeakers to ask the public for food and other relief supplies.
One of the injured was 8-year-old Qadeer, whose father, a farmer named Jehangir, said the only buildings left standing in their village were a mosque and a school. Qadeer lay unconscious, his right leg heavily bandaged.
Sultan said the worst-hit areas were in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, including Muzaffarabad, the regional capital, and the towns of Bagh and Rawalakot. The districts of Batagram, Balakot, Mansehra, Abbottabad and Patan in northwestern Pakistan also suffered serious damage, he said.
Dozens of homes, schools, mosques and government offices were damaged, and hundreds of injured people were taken to hospitals.
In India's portion of Kashmir, two main highways were closed because of landslides triggered by the quake, and relief material was being flown to some areas, said Vijay Bakaya, Jammu-Kashmir state's chief secretary.
At least 400 tents were flown by helicopter to Uri and Tangdar to provide temporary shelter in the freezing Himalayan foothills, officials said. Teams of doctors and Red Cross volunteers were traveling by road and on foot to remote mountainous areas, Bakaya said.
All hospitals in the state have been put on alert and medical staff recalled, he said.
Power has been restored to hospitals, but telephone, water and electricity supplies were still disrupted across much of the state.
"Our first priority is to help affected families, deliver relief and assess the loss so that further help can be provided," said Bakaya.
The temblor also was felt near India's capital.
"It was so strong that I saw buildings swaying. It was terrifying," said Hari Singh, a guard in an apartment complex in a suburb of New Delhi. Hundreds of residents raced down from their apartments after their furniture started shaking.
The quake also jolted parts of Bangladesh, but no casualties or damage were reported there.
Well, if it makes you feel better to delude yourself that everyone killed in this quake is a terrorist, go right ahead.
The moon phase is first quarter. These events, ongoing, do not align with the lunar phase.
I did not say that....I was responding to your false claim that there are no jihadi elements among muslim children. You've obviously not met enough of them so I understand your skepticism.
And BTW, I don't blame children for the nonsense that is fed into their heads by their misguided jihadi parents. However, facts are facts.......we can't gloss them over because they offend our sensibilities.
The only thing sweet would be if Osama died in it.
There are (too) many anti-Arab racists and all-Muslims-are-evil freepers, but I am not one of them.
I'm sorry if I even slightly gave that impression.
btw, it wasn't a 'hypothesis'........I was just thinking about it. As a Christian with a thorough understanding that my mind is not the mind of God, I would never presume to even guess as to what His purposes were in a natural disaster.
read the post after it.
Saw the post. Thanks for the clarification, HHKr.
Np, no matter where they are...these are people, and there are very few lives IMO who arent worth saving
anybody notice these disasters are getting to be a weekend thing. gosh. it is so numbing to have so many.
"I noticed on the news that the Pakistani military is already on site and assisting in the recovery. Maybe we need to outsource FEMA to them?"
Do you suppose a military dictator like Musharraf waits to see if the local mayor invites the army to come in?
My granddaddy used to say that dictatorships and communism only had one redeeming feature each - under communism you never had to worry about your neighbors getting rich... and in a dictatorship, you could always find a policeman.
Amen. The Christian knows the comfort of that fact.
"Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth?" -- Lamentations 3:37-38
"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.'
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.'" -- James 4:13-15
It's Bush's fault.
"Agreed...Pakistan has been a vital ally in the WOT, the US should pledge whatever is left over from Gulf Coast relief to the relief in Pakistan"
There is a vital issue here - Pakistan is originator and still the home of the Taliban. They would like for Pakistan to be an Islamic state like Afghanistan was. They have a lot of support.
I predicted last night the mullahs would blame the Earthquake on Pakistan's cooperation with the U.S. This would be a good time to act.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.