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28 March 2024

Afghan-Pak quake toll tops 350

Residents walk past the rubble of a house after it was damaged by an earthquake in Mingora, Swat, Pakistan. (Reuters)

Published
By AFP

LATEST: Rescuers were on Tuesday picking their way through rugged terrain and pockets of Taliban insurgency in the search for survivors after a massive quake hit Pakistan and Afghanistan, killing more than 350 people. The toll was expected to rise as search teams reach remote areas that were cut off by Monday's powerful 7.5 magnitude quake, which triggered landslides and stampedes as it toppled buildings and severed communication lines.

EARLER REPORT

Rescuers were Tuesday picking their way through rugged terrain and pockets of Taliban insurgency in the search for survivors after a massive quake hit Pakistan and Afghanistan, killing at least 277 people.

The toll was expected to rise as search teams reach remote areas that were cut off by the powerful 7.5 magnitude quake, which triggered landslides and stampedes as it toppled buildings and severed communication lines.

Residents including children and the elderly were helping with relief work, many of them digging beneath the rubble for survivors.

Pakistan's military has been mobilised and has sent medical teams, tents and rations to affected areas, while India -- whose relationship with Islamabad is often prickly -- said it stood ready to help.

Afghan officials said at least 63 people were confirmed dead and hundreds more injured, with casualties reported from around half a dozen of the country's 34 provinces.
The government has implored aid agencies for assistance.

But large swathes of Badakhshan, the remote province where the epicentre is located, and other areas are effectively controlled by the Taliban, posing a huge challenge to any official aid efforts.

280 dead

Nearly 280 people were killed Monday when a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake centred in the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan ripped across South Asia, toppling buildings, triggering stampedes and knocking out communication lines.

The full scale of the disaster and human toll was unclear when night fell over the remote and rugged terrain as authorities in Pakistan and Afghanistan rushed to mount rescue efforts.

A boy, who was injured during an earthquake, leans on his father's shoulder after receiving first aid at hospital in Mingora, Swat, Pakistan. (Reuters)

In the most horrifying tragedy to emerge so far from the quake, 12 young Afghan girls were crushed to death in a stampede as they tried to flee their shaking school building.

The bulk of the casualties were reported from Pakistan, where 214 people were killed and more than 1,800 injured, disaster management authorities said.

"Many houses and buildings have collapsed in the city," said Arbab Muhammad Asim, district mayor for the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Many people were trapped under piles of rubble, with officials warning that the toll was set to rise.

"The building was swinging like a pendulum, it felt as if the heavens would fall," Peshawar shop owner Tufail Ahmed told AFP.

An Afghan schoolgirl injured in a stampede lays on a hospital bed after an earthquake hit Takhar Province. (AFP)

Afghan officials said at least 63 people were confirmed dead and hundreds more injured, with casualties reported from around half a dozen of the country's 34 provinces.

The government has implored aid agencies for relief.

But large swathes of Badakhshan, the remote province where the epicentre is located, and other areas are effectively controlled by the Taliban, posing a huge challenge to any official aid efforts.

Pakistani residents gather at a damaged market following an earthquake in Sargodha. (AFP)

"Today's earthquake was the strongest one felt in the recent decades," said Afghanistan's chief executive Abdullah Abdullah.

"Initial reports show a big loss of life and huge financial losses in Badakhshan, Takhar, Nangarhar, Kunar and other regions. Exact numbers are not known because phone lines are down and communication has been cut off in many areas."

A dozen Afghan schoolgirls, all under 16, were trampled to death in the remote northern province of Takhar as they rushed to escape their classrooms when the quake struck.

Stranded drivers wait in their vehicles after an earthquake in Srinagar. (AFP)

Bystanders rushed the dazed and terrified survivors to hospital, many lying limp in the arms of their rescuers, as doctors tried reviving some of them by pumping their chests manually.

"When the aggrieved relatives of the dead students came to collect their bodies, they were so distressed that they could not even talk to authorities to record their names," said Hafizullah Safai, head of the Takhar health department.

'Scary feeling'

The quake was centred near Jurm in northeast Afghanistan, 250 kilometres (160 miles) from the capital Kabul and at a depth of 213.5 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.

Pakistani victims who were injured in an earthquake wait for treatment at a hospital in Peshawar. (AFP)

The quake, which lasted at least one minute, shook buildings in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, sending thousands of frightened people rushing into the streets.

Traffic came to a halt in downtown Kabul, with frightened people getting out of their cars as they waited for the quake to stop.

Live footage from an Afghan news broadcast filmed in Kabul showed the anchor abandoning his desk as the quake shook the cameras.

People injured from an earthquake receive treatment outside the Ayub Medical Hospital in Abbotabad, Pakistan. (AP)

Restaurants and office buildings emptied in Islamabad, with cracks appearing in some buildings but no major damage reported.

"We grabbed each other and were crying, we could not do anything, I felt so helpless," 16-year-old student Farhana Parveen, whose Islamabad school was evacuated, told AFP.

"I had the scary feeling that the whole world would collapse."

People stand outside their offices after a severe earthquake is felt in Lahore, Pakistan. (AP)

Hundreds of people in northern India poured onto the streets from office blocks, hospitals and homes.

Delhi's metro ground to a halt during the tremor although the airport continued operating.

In the Kashmir region, panicked residents evacuated buildings and children were seen huddling together outside their school in the main city of Srinagar.

Afghan school girls are  treated at a hospital after an earthquake in Takhar province, northeast of Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP)

The rescue effort was being complicated by the lack of communications, with the region's already fragile infrastructure hit.

Gul Mohammad Bidar, deputy governor of Badakhshan in Afghanistan, told AFP lines were down and it was difficult to reach stricken communities.

"The earthquake was very powerful - buildings have been damaged (in Faizabad) and there are possible casualties," he said.

People rush an injured woman to a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan. (AP)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter immediately after the quake, saying that India stood ready to assist, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan if required.

Pakistan mobilised troops and all military hospitals were put on high alert, army spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa said, with the air force also offering support.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

An injured boy waits for medical help at a local hospital in Mingora, Pakistan. (AP)

The epicentre of Monday's quake was just a few hundred kilometres from the site of a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck in October 2005, killing more than 75,000 people and displacing some 3.5 million more, although that quake was much shallower.

In Nepal twin quakes in May killed more than 8,900 people, triggered landslides and destroyed half a million homes.