Posted on 10/07/2005 10:21:53 PM PDT by Perdogg
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- A strong earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale rocked major Pakistani cities of Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar on Saturday morning, according to local TV reports.
The quake shook buildings in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, for about a minute at around 8:50 a.m. local time.
It also shook northern India and part of Afghanistan as Xinhua reporters in New Delhi and Kabul said both the capitals felt the shakings of the quake.
The India Meteorological Department said the earthquake's epicenter was in Pakistan. In India, the first tremor was felt at 9:25 a.m. Saturday in India-controlled Kashmir, north India's Uttaranchal, Punjab, Rajasthan, west India's Gujarat and the capital city Delhi.
Strong quakes have pushed people out of their homes in Srinagarin India-controlled Kashmir, according to NDTV reports.
High rise buildings were left particularly shaken by the tremor lasting for about minutes in Delhi. Enditem
The good news is that we have two major US Navy task forces in that area of the world, and there are ships that can ferry in addditional helicopters that could increase their speed to get that area -- hopefully shortly.
However, the ship named after Chester Nimitz is no longer in the Indian Ocean -- according to something I check. This is unfortunate, with the addition that the sailors may be on liberty at this time. A few days earlier, and the ships of this task force would have been near either Diego Garcia or the Western Indian Ocean.
This is not good for those helping the victims at this point.
This is a nasty situation! If there are collapsed buildings, these aftershocks are very bad news...
Prayers, please!
You can then click on maps of each quake from this link. USGS is supposedly much more accurate than other sites...
Other parts of Pakistan have also suffered big earthquakes. In 1935 the southern city of Quetta was leveled by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake that killed 60,000 people.
A similar quake about 70 years ago killed 60k people, so 25k deaths, not casualties is very possible...
If the position given is accurate, this map has the epicenter marked within a quarter mile.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/jeffers_mz/Muzaffarabad.jpg
Muzaffarabad is a city of about 100,000 people, is located deep in a valley next to the mountain that slid north during this quake, and is less than 5 miles from the epicenter. Manshera, with a population of about 100,000 is 20 miles from the epicenter.
25k might be low.
For comparison, Islamabad, the capitol, where the 19 story building collapsed, is about 55 miles away. Another large city, Abbottabad, has a population close to a million and is 34 miles from the epicenter.
To the North and East of the quake area looks like very hostile and mountainous terrain. That terrain will make any SAR (Search and Rescue) tough.
But if major towns 70+ kilometers away had severe damaged, the epicenter area may have to wait...
Hope someone in Washington, DC is monitoring to help get aid there quickly -- even if not American. Australia/Russia/Japan are alot closer than the US for providing relief...
He is in Peshawar.
My prayers are with your family.
Several friends like to climb a ways north of there, and yes, it is rugged terrain. K2, which used to be the second highest mountain on earth (it's probably a little taller now, but not enough to become number one) is part of that range, which is called the Karakoram.
The mountain roads in that area slide closed on normal days as a matter of course. After this quake, Muzaffarabad is probably cut off entirely, from all directions. Given an elevation of roughly 2500', you can probably get helicopters in there, but I have no doubt that the runway is unservicable and you may have trouble finding a place to even land a chopper.
There's going to be a problem with new lakes held back by unstable dams all around there too. The army might be able to blast their way down to there from positions up on the LOC, but I wouldn't bet on it anytime soon.
Best bet for aid in the short term is probably going to be some gutsy pilots in C-130's and doctors that aren't afraid of a short rappel from helicopters. Even if the western flanks of Muzaffarabad Tanda (mountain) slid significantly, there are probably survivors in there, but right now it looks pretty grim for them.
Here's another map, a Tactical Pilotage Chart with topo elevation lines:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/jeffers_mz/muzaffarabad_tpc_92_sm.jpg
Updates from The Dawn:
- Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highways closed by rockslides, highways in Mansehra district also closed
- 50% of buildings down in Muzaffarabad, 25 believed dead from courtroom collapse
- 90% of buildings, including 2 high schools down in Mansehra, 10 dead, 40 injured still counting
- Kashmir, 40 dead, 300 injured, still counting
- Village in Bagh district "wiped out"
- Rawalpindi school collapse, 1 dead, 6 injured
- School collapse in eastern Afghanistan, 2 dead, also 12 mud brick houses down
- One dozen houses down in Jammu
http://www.dawn.com/2005/10/08/welcome.htm
That's right. It's all about the money. Follow the money.
/sarc
Did Karl Rove gain access to the earthquake machine again?
Because it won't smell quite as bad? LOL.
Reminds me of the news story about a DC bureaucrat found dead at his desk. Comment: How could they tell?
I can't help feeling a bit vindicated. Didn't these islamowackos say the hurricanes were allah's retribution on the United States?
My father and I were discussing this earthquake over coffee this morning in his infidel kitchen. He jokingly said Jesus was getting back at Allah for hurricaine Katrina.
where is this quake located in relation to the area we suspect OBL is located?
Same continent.
He would have been North of that area if he was close the Navy Seal team that had so much trouble. One could only guess...
Trying to figure out, how this will end up as Bush's fault.
To where we "suspect" him to be - Not close enough to put him in any danger - Though there was speculation / rumors (which are common place in this region) that UBL moved closer to Kashmir in the early Spring (which would bring him closer to this event).
Though I doubt that - I suspect he is still along the Afghan / Pak border -
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