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Pakistan earthquake: Hundreds dead in Balochistan

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A powerful earthquake of 7.7 magnitude has killed at least 208 people in Pakistan's remote south-west province of Balochistan. It struck at 16:29 (11:29 GMT) on Tuesday at a depth of 20km (13 miles), north-east of Awaran, the US Geological Survey said. It was felt as far away as Karachi, Hyderabad, and India's capital, Delhi. After the quake, a small island appeared off the coast near the port of Gwadar, witnesses reported. People gathered on the beach to see the new island, which is about 9m (30ft) high and 100m long, Gwadar Police Chief Pervez Umrani said. Balochistan is Pakistan's largest but least populated province. The region is prone to earthquakes, with at least 35 people killed in a 7.8-magnitude tremor that was centred in south-eastern Iran in April. Mud houses Balochistan government spokesman Jan Buledi put the death toll at 208 and warned it could rise. At least 340 people have been injured. Awaran local government official Abdul Rasheed Baluch said: "We have been busy in rescue efforts for the whole night and fear we will recover more dead bodies from under the rubble during daylight. "Around 90% of houses in the district have been destroyed. Almost all the mud houses have collapsed." Map locator Many of the casualties are said to be from Labach, on the northern outskirts of Awaran town. Houses are also reported to have caved in in the district of Khuzdar. Officials in the regional capital, Quetta, said some areas may have suffered serious damage but the remoteness made early assessment impossible. People in the region mostly live in mud houses as opposed to multi-storey concrete structures, says the BBC's Shahzeb Jillani. The few concrete buildings in the area mostly house government offices, he adds. An emergency has been declared in the earthquake-affected districts of Awaran and Chagai. Provincial disaster management officials say tents and medical supplies have been sent from Quetta and neighbouring district headquarters. Helicopters and more than 200 soldiers have also been despatched for rescue efforts. Pakistan's chief meteorologist Mohammad Riaz told reporters it was a major earthquake that could cause extensive damage. "But it would depend on how dense the population is in the area around the epicentre," he said. Light tremors were also said to have been felt in Karachi and Hyderabad, with reports of people rushing out of office buildings.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24222760 Pakistan hit by 7.8-magnitude quake, killing 45 and forming mountain-like island in Arabian Sea VD-mud-island-408x264.jpg
Karachi, Pakistan: A major earthquake hit a remote part of south-west Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 45 people and prompting a new island to reportedly rise from the sea just off the country's southern coast. The United States Geological Survey said the 7.8 magnitude quake struck 233 kilometres southeast of Dalbandin in Pakistan's quake-prone province of Baluchistan, which borders Iran. I thought I am feeling dizziness but soon realised they were tremors The province in southwest Pakistan is the country's largest but also the least populated. The earthquake sent workers fleeing into the streets and praying for their lives as buildings swayed, officials said. Advertisement The earthquake was so powerful that it caused the seabed to rise and create a small, mountain-like island about 600 metres off Pakistan's Gwadar coastline in the Arabian Sea, local media reported. Television channels showed images of a stretch of rocky terrain rising above the sea level, with a crowd of bewildered people gathering on the shore to witness the rare phenomenon. John Bellini, a geophysicist with the US Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Centre, said the 7.8-magnitude earthquake was capable of causing widespread damage. ‘‘We have heard some reports of damage as well as casualties, although we would expect the numbers to go higher based on the size and location of the earthquake,’’ he said. He said the the type of faulting that caused the Pakistan earthquake was an oblique strike thrust - meaning the motion was side to side, rather than up and down. He said that would not normally result in land being thrust upwards, however there had been reports of islands similar to the one reported off the coast of Pakistan appearing in the past. ‘‘The US Geological Survey hasn’t had any direct observations of the island itself, so we don’t know the specifics, other than what we’ve seen on the internet,’’ he said. ‘‘However historically there have been islands very similar to this that have occurred off the coast of Pakistan and Iran, and much of it seems to be related to mud volcano activity. We don’t know if this one specifically is related to mud volcano activity, but it has occurred off the coast in this region in the past.’’ Officials said scores of mud houses were destroyed by aftershocks in the thinly populated mountainous area near the quake epicenter in Baluchistan, a huge barren province of deserts and rugged mountains. Abdul Qadoos Bizenjo, deputy speaker of the Baluchistan assembly, told Reuters that at least 30 per cent of houses in the impoverished Awaran district had caved in. The local deputy commissioner in Awaran, Abdul Rasheed Gogazai, and the spokesman of Pakistan's Frontier Corps involved in the rescue effort said at least 45 people had been killed. In the regional capital of Quetta, officials said some areas appeared to be badly damaged but it was hard to assess the impact quickly because the locations were so remote. Chief secretary Babar Yaqoob said earlier that 25 people had been injured and that the death toll was expected to increase as many people appeared to be trapped inside their collapsed homes. Local television reported that helicopters carrying relief supplies had been dispatched to the affected area. The army said it had deployed 200 troops to help deal with the disaster. The district's deputy commissioner Abdul Rasheed Baloch said rescue teams have been dispatched to the area. The head of Pakistan's Earthquake Centre, Zahid Rafi, warned of possible aftershocks. The quake was felt in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, along the Arabian Sea. People in the city's tall office buildings rushed into the streets following the tremor, and Pakistani television showed images of lights swaying as the earth moved. "I was working on my computer in the office. Suddenly I felt tremors. My table and computer started shaking. I thought I am feeling dizziness but soon realised they were tremors," said one Karachi resident, Mohammad Taimur. TV footage showed residents in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, coming out of their homes and offices in a panic. One man told Pakistan's Dunya television channel that he was sitting in his office when the building started shaking. Other residents said people started reciting verses from Islam's holy book, the Koran, when the quake began. Baluchistan and neighbouring Iran are prone to earthquakes. A magnitude 7.8, which was centred just across the border in Iran, killed at least 35 people in Pakistan last April. In January 2011, a 7.2 magnitude quake damaged 200 mud-brick homes in a remote area of Baluchistan about 320 kilometres southwest of Quetta, not far from the Afghan border but caused no casualties.
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/pakistan-hit-by-78magnitude-quake-killing-45-and-forming-mountainlike-island-in-arabian-sea-20130924-2uckp.html
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