October 09, 2005

WHEN THE EARTH SHAKES

A major earthquake rocked Pakistan, North India & Afghanistan at 03:50 UTC on 8 October 2005. The epicentre was in the Pir Panjal Mountains near the town of Muzaffarabad. The main quake and subsequent 20 aftershocks jolted major cities of Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. An earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale jolted southern and central Bangladesh on Saturday, whipping up high waves in the Bay of Bengal (source) However no causualties reported till now. The report adds:

The tremor lasted about 20 seconds, spreading panic as tall buildings swayed and waves from the Bay of Bengal flooded coastal villages.The seismic centre in the southern port city of Chittagong said the epicentre of the tremor was located more than 600 km from the coastline.

According to todays reports 18,000 people have been already dead mostly in Pakistan and the toll is rising. The deaths mostly happened from collapsed buildings and landslides. The estimation has hit 30,000 by now. My heartiest condolences to the affected families and I hope God gives them strength to overcome this loss.

For news and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts after the earthquake of October 8th, 2005 visit the South Asia Quake Help Blog and the BBC reporters log. Britain, Japan, the United States, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were among the first countries to immediately dispatch rescue teams, cash and material aid (via The Peking Duck).

'Global Voices Online' provides the South Asian blogs' initial response to the quake and the Pakistani bloggers response. Indian Blogger Kush Tandon terms it as a wake up call for a even bigger quake impending in this region and suggests what the people of this region should do.

Links: BBC, Times of India,Reuters, CNN. MSNBC.

Images: Rediff, BBC, CNN.
"Earthquakes do not kill people, buildings do"

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