Newspaper reports
from The Dawn's online edition
a) It all began in Rann of Kachchh
b) 15 killed, 108 injured in lower Sindh
b) Aftershocks felt in city. other towns
BACK |
It all began in Rann of Kachchh
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD, Jan 26:
The epicentre of the earthquake was 300-km southeast of Karachi
in the fault zone of Rann of Kachchh, the seismological centre
said.
The quake was recorded 6.5 on the Richter scale by the Peshawar
Seismological Centre. In Pakistan, jolts were felt in Karachi,
Hyderabad, Multan, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta, slightly damaging
a number of buildings.
Top
15 killed, 108 injured in lower Sindh
27th January 2001
HYDERABAD, Jan 26: Fifteen
people died and about 108 others were injured when a strong
earthquake jolted the entire Sindh right from Karachi to Kashmor
at Khan.
8:20am on Friday, write Aziz Malik and M.H.
There was no record available about the victims in the Mirpurkhas
division, but reports said that eight people died in the district
- one each in Kunri, Jhuddo, Naukot, and Mirpurkhas and two each
in Digri and Kot Ghulam Mohammad.
Reports of powerful jolts, destruction of houses, roads and trees
were received from all over the Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas
divisions with families coming out in the open to save their
lives. Power supply in certain areas was disrupted.
The injured were brought to the civil hospital of Hyderabad from
the districts of Badin, Mirpurkhas, Digri, Kunri and Kot Ghulam
Mohammad.
Five children, including a 15-day-old boy, were killed and scores
of others, mostly schoolchildren, injured in the Hyderabad
district.
The tremor lasted for 30 seconds only, but people with their
children ran out of their houses to take refuge in the open. The
intensity of the earthquake was measured 6.5 on Richter scale.
Some of the people were still asleep when the tremors were felt
and many a student, mostly girls, was injured in the stampede as
they rushed out of their classrooms.
Twenty-five women workers fainted in a knitting factory in Kotri
SITE due to shock. They were taken to the local social security
hospital.
An under-construction four-storey block of Ghousia Apartments in
the New Citizens Colony of Qasimabad sub-division fell over an
adjoining house. Niaz Hussain, 15, son of Hidayatullah, and
Kainat, 5, daughter of Azizullah, who were asleep in the house,
died. The Sindh Governor announced a compensation of Rs100,000
for the bereaved family of one child whose father is unemployed
and Rs50,000 thousand to the bereaved family of the other child.
Three other children, who were sleeping in the same room, were
rescued.
Ali Gul, 10, died in Goth Alaur Khoso in Matiari when a wall
collapsed over him. A donkey-cart driver, Allah Dino Burfat, was
killed when he jumped off his cart due to earthquake and was
overrun by a coaster near Husri.
Wazir, 4, died in Goth Khair Mohammad Khokhar in Tando Allah Yar,
when a wall collapsed over him.
Ladho Warayo lost his life in Thatta's main Shahi Bazaar after he
suffered cardiac arrest in the wake of strong tremors.
As regards the Ghousia Apartment, officials did not rule out the
use of substandard material in it, which was evident during the
inspection of the site. Other under-construction buildings in the
same vicinity remained safe.
The director of building control department, Masood Jumani, who
visited the locality, said that there were no dangerous buildings
but keeping in view the possibility of earthquake loss to any
building could not be ruled out.
Though still intact, the second block of Ghousia Apartments sank
in the ground by two-and-a-half feet.
People demanded that the builder and the building control
department officials of the HDA be awarded deterrent punishment
and the bereaved families be given compensation.
The SHO of Bhittai Nagar police station, Aijaz Tareen, said the
builder of Ghousia Apartments, Nazar Mohammad Qureshi, had been
traced out.
The medical superintendent of Hyderabad civil hospital, Akbar
Haider Soomro, declared emergency and vacated hundred of beds in
the hospital to accommodate the injured.
Some of the injured brought to the Hyderabad civil hospital
included Rabia, 4; Safia, 5; Urooj Bano, 14; Rakesh Kumar, Hafza,
10; Pari, wife of Shah Nawaz; Hameeda, wife of Irshad Ali; Niaz
Hussain, Kausar, Rasheed, Sobiya, 9; and Janta.
Saghir, Naeem, and three minor girls - Shumaila, Erum and Haleema
- were brought to Bhittai hospital in Latifabad.
Soon after the earthquake, Azans were called from many mosques,
creating panic in the city. Rumours spread like wildfire that
more earthquakes were expected between 11am and 3pm.
Residents of the Al Rahim Shopping Centre claimed that cracks had
appeared in the building. People did not enter their homes till
afternoon and all the shops, business centres, educational
institutions and even courts were closed.
Many families from the Cantonment locality gathered in the Old
Eidgah Park out of fear.
Meanwhile, the commissioner of Hyderabad, Imtiaz Kazi, who is
also chairman of the HDA's governing body, constituted a three-member
committee to determine the causes of the sudden collapse of
Ghousia Apartments. The committee was told to submit its report
within a week.
MIRPURKHAS: Five people were killed and 32 others injured when
roofs and walls of various houses collapsed at different places
owing to the earthquake, reports Qamruddin.
They included Munni, wife of Babu, a resident of Nawab Colony;
Rizwan Ahmad, a resident of Kunri town; and Munawar Khaskheli, a
resident of Deh 256 near Kot Ghulam Mohammad.
The injured included Wajahat, 5; Hameer, Zulfiqar, Rozi, Muhammad
Yasir, Badar Ahmed, Seema, 9; Shahzeb, 5; Sultana, 12; Rani, 28;
and Maqsooda, 40.
Emergency was declared at the civil hospital of Mirpurkhas.
BADIN: People rushed out of their houses when the quake hit at 8.18am.
Three people died and 60 others were injured in the district,
writes Mohammad Hashim Bhurgari.
Schools were closed down after the earthquake. Many under-
construction buildings were damaged.
The deceased included Shamim, a resident of Khoski; and Zakria
Kumbhar 4, (Badin).
Of the injured, 17 belonged to Khoski, 10 to Badin, five to Nindo
Shaher, two to Talhar and 15 to Kadhan town.
Cracks appeared on many roads across the district and underground
water gushed out, disrupting the vehicular traffic. About 40
jawans led by Maj Mubeen arrived at the spot and restored the
traffic.
Many families moved to other towns and villages after the
earthquake. A minaret of the Jamia Mosque at the Lowari Sharif's
shrine collapsed.
Officials said the earthquake had been measured at 6.2 on Richter
scale.
KHIRPUIR: Tremors were felt in the district but no casualty was
reported from any locality, writes Mansoor Meerani.
Similar reports were received from the districts of Naushahro
Firoz, Nawabshah and Sanghar where some houses and buildings were
damaged.
THATTA: Eighty-year-old Ladho Warayo died of cardiac arrest as
the district was jolted, writes Iqbal Khwaja.
Three motorbike-riders were seriously injured when they fell on
the road due to earthquake.
Many houses developed cracks.
MITHI: Walls and roofs of hundreds of houses in the Tharparkar
district either developed cracks or collapsed, reports Prem
Shivani.
Two people were reported injured.
SUKKUR: A brief spell of earthquake in Sukkur, Larkana, Rohri,
Jacobabad, Shikarpur, and Ghotki was felt. However, no loss of
life was reported, reports Shamim Shamshi.
KARACHI: In Karachi, the earthquake was felt at 8.16am. According
to the MET office, the city could experience aftershocks lasting
several days as there always was a possibility of such a
phenomenon. But, it added, it was not necessary.
In case of aftershocks, the intensity or magnitude would be very
very low as compared to the first shock.
The quake was the highest in magnitude in the history of Karachi.
The previous highest was 5 on Richter scale recorded on Dec 17,
1985. The areas affected were Pipri, Bin Qasim and Landhi. The
quake caused no loss to life or property.
The MET office said that Karachi escaped detestation because the
currents of the quake were very deep, hampering its intensity on
top soil.
In the morning, tremors lasted between 20 and 30 seconds in
various parts of the city, causing a wave of scare. People
preparing to leave for their offices came out of houses in panic.
The intensity was more severe in Clifton, Defence, North
Nazimabad, PECHS, Karachi Administration Society, Gulistan-i-Jauhar,
Lyari and Saddar.
A number of residents said that their houses had developed cracks
due to the tremors. Newspaper offices were jammed with frantic
phone calls for more information about the earthquake.
LAHORE: A severe earthquake rocked Lahore and other parts of
Punjab, terrifying people and making them run for safety, reports
our Lahore Bureau.
According to reports from Multan and Bahawalpur, cracks appeared
in some buildings. Outer walls of some mud houses caved in.
Top
Aftershocks felt in city, other towns
By Our Staff
Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 28: Two aftershocks, measuring 6 and 5.5 on the
Richter scale, struck the city at 6.1am and 4.12pm on Sunday.
According to the Met office, the epicentre of these aftershocks
was 1,300km south-east of Peshawar near Rann of Kachch.
The Met office said that though the observatory had recorded
aftershocks twice in the day, no one from across the country had
claimed to have felt the shocks on the times the aftershocks had
pummelled the region.
Answering a question, a duty officer at the Met office said they
had received a few reports from some parts of the city about
aftershocks accompanied by rumblings being felt around 7pm. But,
he added, the observatory had made no such records.
Agencies add: The director of the Pakistan Meteorological
Department, Quetta, Mohammed Rafiq, said that since Jan 26 their
network in the country had recorded 36 aftershocks. One of the
aftershocks had measured 6 on the Richter scale, seven above 5
and the remaining below 5. The tremors hit the Tharparkar and
Badin districts for the second day running, local officials said,
adding that they were surprised Pakistan had been spared the
devastation of Gujarat.
"There may be scientific reasons for this, but it was God's
mercy," Hyderabad division commissioner Imtiaz Kazi said.
Rescue workers in the oil-producing area of Badin said tremors
there had split roads and blocked transport.
Farmers in the remote village of Kudhan, near the southern town
of Badin and 160km north of the battered Indian town of Bhuj,
were left with destroyed crops after the Jan 26 earthquake.
"The earthquake broke the land and water-carrying sand and
salt covered the farms, disabling them for at least three years,"
farmer Mohammad Usman told Reuters.
A small commuting bridge linking the farming area with Badin had
suffered cracks, making it impassable.
Compiled from The Dawn's online edition by Stacey Martin