Posted on 10/07/2005 9:47:18 PM PDT by edmond246
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- A strong earthquake rocked parts of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan on Saturday, and panicked people ran out of homes and offices in many cities.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, though part of a 19-story building in Islamabad collapsed, according to an eyewitness.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Pull, someone else got to it before me!
Alas, we'll soon find out that there will be a substantial casualty toll from this earthquake. You forget that the vast majority of buildings in Pakistan aren't built to the same earthquake safety standards found in the USA and Japan, so I expect a lot of people to be buried alive in collapsed buildings just like the earthquake in the historic city of Bam in Iran a couple of years ago that killed tens of thousands of people.
Quake Hits Pakistan, Afghanistan, India
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake rocked parts of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan on Saturday, injuring at least a dozen people. Part of a 19-story building collapsed in the Pakistani capital.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20051008/ap_on_re_as/pakistan_quake_6
Rescue workers were on the scene of the collapse in Islamabad, and at least two injured people were carried from the debris.
In the Pakistani city of Lahore at least eight people were injured and four shops were damaged, police said. The earthquake also damaged part of a school in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, injuring at least two girls.
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 there or at other bases around the country.
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 58 miles north-northeast of Islamabad at a depth of about six miles.
Arif Mahmood, a seismological official in the northwestern city of Peshawar, said the earthquake was felt in much of Pakistan.
"It was a very strong earthquake," he said.
Panicked people ran out of homes and offices in many cities. Local television said the quake caused panic in Islamabad, as well as nearby Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta near the Afghan border.
It also frightened residents of the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in entirety by both.
In Islamabad, buildings shook and walls swayed for about a minute. Slight tremors continued afterward.
Residents in the Afghan capital, Kabul, also felt the temblor, fleeing their homes for fear they would collapse. Kabul is about 400 miles northwest of Islamabad.
"We are calling all our officials in the provinces. But we haven't received any reports yet of casualties," said Saed Jawad Qanah, an official in Kabul with the disaster department of the Red Crescent Society.
The tremor also affected northern India.
"It was so strong that I saw buildings swaying. It was terrifying," said Hari Singh, a guard in an apartment complex in the New Delhi suburb of Noida. Hundreds of residents there raced down from their apartments after their beds and couches started shaking.
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