Pakistan Quake Kills 39 and Creates Island
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Sept. 24, 2013
A massive earthquake struck a remote, rural area in Pakistan today,
killing at least 39 people and creating a new island off the Pakistani
coastline.
"It was nothing short of a miracle," Behram Baloch, a resident of the
southern port city of Gwadar, told ABC News referring to the new island.
Accounts of the size and shape of the island vary. Baloch describes it
as roughly 200 feet long, jutting out from the water roughly a quarter
mile from the coastline. Pakistan TV channels broadcast footage of the
island, shot from land, showing a grainy, rocky mass surrounded by
water.
A fisherman who saw the island being formed say it was a gradual process, not sudden like an apparition.
"All the people from the village came out to see it and were praying at
the same time," he says. "Tomorrow, I will go to see it up close."
But for as much as the earthquake created, it also destroyed.
Measuring 7.7 magnitude according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the
earthquake was felt as far away as India's capital, Delhi, and
Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi. The epicenter was a rural area in
Balochistan, Pakistan's biggest but least populated province, bordering
Afghanistan and Iran. The area consists of villages with mostly
mud-brick homes and poor to non-existent transportation infrastructure,
leaving rescue teams worried the death toll will rise sharply overnight.
Pakistani TV channels aired footage showing a steady stream of panicked
workers in Quetta, the nearest major city to the quake's epicenter,
flowing out from their buildings after the first tremors hit. Residents
say the shaking lasted for as long as a minute before it subsided.
Initially the USGS registered the quake as a 7.4, but quickly changed
its assessment. Within hours of the initial quake, the USGS registered
two additional ones, measuring 5.9 and 5.6, both in the same area where
the first one struck.
The deputy speaker of the Balochistan Provincial Assembly, Abdul Qadoos,
told news agencies he believes at least 30 percent of all houses in
Awaran, the village closest to the epicenter, were destroyed.
To help with rescue efforts, the Pakistani army deployed 300 soldiers to
the affected area, a number that is expected to rise to 1,000 by
Wednesday morning. The home base for rescue efforts its Khuzdar, one of
the regions hard hit by the quake, with a population of more than half a
million.
"Night flying helicopters with medics on their way," Major General Asim
Bajwa, who handles external communication for the Pakistani military,
tweeted.
Rescuers face a daunting task that poses several significant challenges.
For one, getting to the hardest hit areas will be, literally, an
uphill struggle. The area is rocky and partly mountainous, populated by
several Pakistani tribes, some of whom are nomadic. The nearest major
city, Quetta, is an eight-to-ten hour drive away. The area is
overwhelmingly rural.
Damage to cell phone towers has made communication to some villages all
but impossible. Pakistan also suffers from chronic electricity outages
that can last for several hours, especially in smaller villages and
towns. There is a concern that what little power the area received may
have been cut off due to damaged transformers.
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