ISLAMABAD,
October 9, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Pakistan said
Sunday, October 9, that 19,136 people were confirmed to have died and
42,397 injured in the devastating earthquake which battered the country
a day before.
"So
far we have 19,136 people lost their lives, 42,397 were injured.
Casualties are increasing by the hour," Interior Minister Aftab
Sherpao told a news conference in Islamabad, reported Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
"It
is such a horrendous situation that one cannot imagine."
Sherpao
said the worst affected area was Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where
the confirmed figures so far were 17,388 dead and 40,421 injured.
Earlier
Sunday, Tariq Farooq, Pakistan's controlled Kashmir Minister for Works
and Communication, told AFP that more than 40,0000 people have been
killed in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
"There
are cities, there are towns which have been completely destroyed.
Muzaffarabad is devastated," he said, referring to the capital of
Pakistan's sector of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
The
quake struck close to the Line of Control (LoC) between the Indian and
Pakistani controlled zones of Kashmir, triggering deadly landslides that
wiped out entire villages.
Across
the devastated areas, rescuers hunted for anyone still alive and buried
in the rubble.
The
scale of the disaster has shocked the international community and
brought pledges of aid and expressions of sympathy but the time has
already run out for many in the region.
Worst
Disaster
 |
|
Trapped
body of school children lie under rubble. (Reuters)
|
The
devastating earthquake is believed to be one of the most powerful to hit
the south East Asia region in decades.
"It
is the biggest ever disaster in the history of Pakistan," Sultan
told AFP.
He
said military helicopters were leading rescue efforts in the worst
affected zones, the rugged terrain of Northwest Frontier Province and
the towering Himalayan mountains of the Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
"Village
after village has been wiped out," said an official in Muzaffarabad.
"The
Neelum River has been blocked because whole villages have fallen into
the water."
The
quake centered on the Kashmir region with a focus some 10 kilometers
(six miles) beneath the Earth's surface, according to the US Geological
Survey and other seismic institutes.
Kashmir
is well known to be a high-risk area for earthquakes as it lies on the
collision area of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates, which created
the Himalaya mountain range 50 million years ago.
City
of Death
 |
|
Pakistani
rescue workers search for bodies at the site of a collapsed
apartment complex in Islamabad. (Reuters)
|
The
killer quake has left Muzaffarabad in a complete devastation.
"It's
total devastation. It looks like the city of death," said Reuters
reporter Zulfiqar Ali.
The
devastating quake has left most houses and most government buildings and
shops collapsed in the small mountain city.
"No
one knows how many have been killed or how many survived," Ali told
Reuters over phone.
"Those
buildings that have withstood the shocks are badly cracked and no one is
going into them."
Frightened
Muzaffarabad residents spent a chilly Saturday night in the open, camped
in fields, parks, graveyards and cars.
Most
people had no food because shops or markets did not open.
Ali
said that the army had set up camps and provided some food to survivors
but much more help was needed.
Residents
said the quake has buried many students of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir
University in Muzaffarabad under the debris.
Ali
said earlier that his house had been destroyed. His young son was buried
in rubble but pulled out unharmed.
In
India-controlled Kashmir, authorities said the quake killed 320 people,
as relief efforts went on to find survivors.
"The
death toll across Jammu and Kashmir has reached 320 so far,"
government chief secretary Vijay Bakaya told the official Press Trust of
India news agency.
Nearly
700 people were injured and thousands of homes collapsed in Saturday's
temblor, the authorities said.
Bakaya
warned that the casualty toll would rise as reports continued to arrive
from isolated areas and relief efforts continued.
