Posted on 10/07/2005 9:45:14 PM PDT by Strategerist
Magnitude 7.6
Date-Time Saturday, October 08, 2005 at 03:50:38 (UTC) - Coordinated Universal Time
Saturday, October 08, 2005 at 08:50:38 AM local time at epicenter
Location 34.43N 73.54E
Depth 10.0 kilometers
Region PAKISTAN
AMEN
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Nine am Sunday morning, 19 story building down?
That won't be pretty.
Probably not the only collapse either.
The damage that people are aware of so far is absolutely trivial compared to what has certainly occured. There have been no reports from the epicentral region, which is quite densely populated (in the millions.)
If there's a high rise down in Islamabad, then Abbotabad can't be doing well, there's a round million, Muzaffarabad and Manshera will add in around a hundred k each, but things thin out pretty quick after that.
Might be tough getting relief into Muzafferabad, if the bridges are down and the passes closed by rockfall. Might be quicker to bring aid down from the army positions in Kashmir, start driving a route through from both ends at once.
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/89927/photo11.html
CNN has it on right now with videos
Hope FEMA's not taking notes, there are still people in both remaining sections of that building.
The failed section didn't pancake, but it might as well have. All but the rooftop dropped essentially straight down. I think they have too many ambulances there, assets probably in short supply.
Here's a map of the area with the epicenter marked, on a 90 meter per pixel digital elevation model. Used to be you could get 30 meter DEMs of Pakistan, but that quit happening about the time of Operation Mountain Storm.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/jeffers_mz/Muzaffarabad.jpg
You almost have to hope that the contractor and inspectors were taking bribes on this building, otherwise Abbottabad's going to be a real mess, and Muzafferabad will have been vaporized.
map 2.7 2005/10/08 11:10:35 34.005 -116.779 13.8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MAP 6.3 2005/10/08 10:46:30 34.689 73.073 16.2 PAKISTAN map 2.7 2005/10/08 05:48:05 59.922 -153.016 140.0 SOUTHERN ALASKA MAP 5.6 2005/10/08 05:26:06 34.708 73.107 10.0 PAKISTAN MAP 5.6 2005/10/08 05:19:49 34.748 73.141 10.0 PAKISTAN MAP 5.4 2005/10/08 05:08:42 34.711 73.351 10.0 PAKISTAN MAP 5.6 2005/10/08 04:30:45 2.089 97.728 30.0 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA MAP 5.9 2005/10/08 04:26:13 34.824 73.133 10.0 PAKISTAN MAP 7.6 2005/10/08 03:50:39 34.432 73.537 10.0 PAKISTAN
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer
9 minutes ago
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake reduced villages to rubble in Pakistan and India on Saturday, killing hundreds of people. Pakistan's army described the damage as widespread and said it included villages buried in quake-induced landslides.
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Pakistan's Geo television quoted Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the Pakistani army's chief spokesman, as saying 1,000 people were feared dead. Pakistani 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. "The 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 157 killed, including 14 soldiers who perished in a landslide. At least 600 were injured.
Air force and army soldiers helped civilian authorities rescue people trapped under buildings. Telephone lines were down. Bridges had developed cracks, but traffic was passing over them.
At least 100 people died in Mansehra district in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, and 70 percent of mud-brick homes in quake-hit areas collapsed, said Asif Iqbal, the provincial information minister. Casualty tolls from other districts were being compiled.
In eastern Afghanistan, an 11-year-old girl was crushed to death when a wall in her home collapsed, said police official Gafar Khan.
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," said Rehmatullah, who only gave one name. "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. A concrete slab was splattered with blood. One rescue worker said he initially heard faint cries from people trapped in the rubble.
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.
Pakistani troops and helicopters deployed to earthquake-hit areas. Landslides were hindering rescue efforts in some areas.
Sultan, the army spokesman, 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 were also badly hit, he said.
Dozens of homes, schools, mosques and government offices were damaged in those areas, and hundreds of injured people were taken to hospitals.
In the capitals of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, buildings shook and walls swayed for about a minute. Panicked people ran from their homes and offices. Tremors continued for hours afterward.
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.
"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 India's capital, 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.
If I didn't know better I'd say the moderator put the rest of the earthquake threads in Breaking News to illustrate how ludicrous the duplicates look.
FOX NEWS: 500 reported dead.
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?
Everybody felt it.... a moment of eerie silence...........a low rumble and then the ground began to shake. Buildings swayed and buckled and then collapsed like a house of cards. Less than 4 minutes later over 30,000 were dead from an 8.2 earthquake that rocked and nearly flattened Armenia in 1989. In the muddled chaos a distressed father bolted through the winding streets leading to the school where his son had gone earlier that morning.
The man could not stop thinking about the promise he had given his son many times.
"No matter what happens Armand, I'll always be there." Well he reached the site where his sons school had been but saw only a pile of rubble. He just stood there at first fighting back tears....and then took off stumbling over debris running toward the east corner where he knew his sons classroom had been.
With nothing but his bare hands he started digging, desperately pulling bricks and pieces of wall plaster. While others just stood by watching in forlorn disbelief, he even heard someone growl, "Forget it mister they're all dead" He looked up flustered and replied, " You can grumble or you can help me lift these bricks" but only a few pitched in, and most of them gave up once their muscles began to ache. But the man couldn't stop thinking about his son, so he kept digging and digging....... for hours and hours.
12 hours went by..... 18 hours..... 24 hours..... 36 hours......... and finally into the 38th hour he heard a muffled groan from under a piece of wallboard. The man grabbed the board, pulled it back and cried, "Armand!" and from the darkness came a slight, shaking voice, "Papa?" Other weak voices began calling out as the young survivors stirred beneath the still uncleared rubble. Gasps and shouts of bewildered relief came from a few onlookers and parents who remained.
They found 14 of the 33 students still alive. When Armand finally emerged he tried to help dig until all his surviving classmates were out. Everybody standing there heard him as he turned to his friends and said, "See I told you my father wouldn't forget us." We have a Father like that....-
Dr. Scott Hahn….from his book "A Father who keeps His promises."
Wow! Thank you.
Time to send special forces in dressed as relief workers.
SO if Katrina was a private in the army of jihad, is the earthquake on our side? Or does it have something to do with natural patterns - hurricanes happen in the Atlantic and Gulf and earthquakes from time to time shake kashmir?
I just heard someone mention this on Fox.
Wouldn't it be sweet if God used this earthquake to get rid of this evil murderer?
"Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.....I will repay."
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