Over 175 killed in Balochistan quake

[Naveed Yaseen]

Death toll likely to rise; Ziarat, Pishin districts worst hit; emergency declared in province; people asked to stay outside as more aftershocks feared

By Muhammad Ejaz Khan

QUETTA: Over 175 people, mostly women and children, were killed and more than 500 injured when a severe intensity earthquake struck Ziarat, Pishin and Qilla Abdullah districts of Balochistan in the wee hours of Wednesday.

The death toll in the catastrophe may rise as a number of people are still buried under the debris of mud houses, particularly in Ziarat Valley and its surrounding areas. Hundreds of mud houses were razed to the ground and people were forced to stay under the open sky in severe cold as rescue and relief operations could not gain momentum due to inaccessible areas till our going to the press.

The intensity of the earthquake was recorded in the range of 4.4 in the morning to 6.4 in the evening (5.30 pm) on the Richter Scale.Some 100 injured people were brought and admitted to the Sandeman Provincial Headquarters Hospital and the Bolan Medical Complex Hospital in the provincial capital alone. Most of them had multiple injuries on their heads and other parts of the body. An emergency was declared in the hospitals of Quetta and the quake-hit areas.

An overall emergency was also declared in the province and the Army and the Frontier Corps were called out for rescue and relief operations in the earthquake-hit areas.The worst affected areas were Ziarat, Khanozai area of Pishin, parts of Killa Saifullah, Mastung, Loralai and Sibi districts. All the government and private educational institutions were closed for two days in the provincial capital.

The intensity of the earthquake was recorded in the range of 6.1-6.4 on the Richter Scale.The quake jolted parts of the province thrice — at 4:33 am, 5:12 am and 5:35 pm. A severe jolt of 6.4 was felt in the evening.

People in deep sleep came out of their homes as the earthquake struck parts of the province early in the morning. They started reciting Kalma-e-Tayyeba loudly and many were seen calling Azaan in streets and mosques. People also resorted to aerial firing to awaken those in deep slumber when the first jolts were felt.

Reports reaching from Ziarat said at least 80 persons were killed in a single village.In Wam village, a family of 24 perished. The dead included six women and 12 children.

Reports suggested that dozens of mud houses were destroyed by the quake in Wam, Virchom, Kan Depot, Kan Bangla, Kowas Zindra in Ziarat, besides Toba Achakzai, Khanozai and other areas of Pishin.

Roads connecting Quetta with Loralai via Spira Ragha and other link roads between the villages were blocked by big stones following the jolts.Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani reached the affected areas of Ziarat and ordered massive relief activities.

Rescue and relief teams comprising doctors, paramedical staff and volunteers were dispatched to the affected zones. Heavy machinery was also dispatched to the affected areas to remove debris and clear roads.

Various political parties also came out with relief activities by setting up camps in different parts of the provincial metropolis.The Jamaat-e-Islami also sent a team of volunteers to the affected areas to take part in relief activities.

Meanwhile, a C-130 aircraft reached Quetta from Chaklala Airbase with relief goods for the quake-affected people.

Frontier Corps sources said all of its corps and commands were put on high alert in different parts of the province for the rescue of victims. Paramedical camps were also set up by the FC in different areas. Official sources said consignments of tents, blankets and foodstuff had been dispatched to the quake-hit parts of the province.

Agencies add: Over 175 people were killed in the calamity that flattened about 1,500 mud-walled homes and triggered landslides, officials said. The epicentre of Wednesday’s quake was in Ziarat district, a scenic valley and one of the main tourist spots in Balochistan.

Chief district administrator Dilawar Khan said 170 people had been killed in that district and 350 injured. “The rescue operation is over. We’ve retrieved all bodies and the injured. Now the problem is relief as there’s a shortage of tents, blankets and food while the weather is getting cold,” Khan told Reuters.

Another five people were killed in Pishin district, government officials said. The Meteorological Department put the magnitude at 6.5 and said the quake, at the shallow depth of about 10 km, struck at 5.10 am.

About 20 aftershocks, the biggest of 6.2 magnitude, caused more damage and rattled the nerves of survivors as they scoured the rubble for loved ones. “The village has been flattened. You can’t see a house still standing. There’s destruction everywhere,” said Abdul Rahim Ziyawal, a rescue worker in Wam, one of the worst-hit villages where authorities were using excavators to dig mass graves.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sent two teams to the area. “Aftershocks have continued which we think will force the population to stay outside, and the weather is cold,” said ICRC spokeswoman Carla Haddad.

The death toll in Ziarat valley can cross a figure of 190 as rescue teams have rushed volunteers to some villages where dozens of people are buried under debris of collapsed houses, District Naib Nazim Ziarat Momin Khan Dummar told APP on telephone.

“I personally visited Wam, Kan and other areas where 28 people of only two families had perished under debris,” he said, adding that reports coming from Killi Sra Kheizai “are dreadful where scores of inhabitants are still under debris”.

The Nazim added that it was difficult to find out the real figure at this moment as most of the dead had already been buried by the locals.District Nazim Pishin Maulvi Kamaluddin visited Killi Khoshab in Khanozai which had been destroyed completely by the Wednesday morning earthquake.

Medical teams of Pakistan Army, FC and Health Department continued treating those who sustained injuries in Ziarat district hospital. Army helicopters shifted 16 seriously injured to CMH Quetta and also rushed a dozen volunteers to Killi Sra Kheizai for rescue and relief operations.

Army personnel also flew to Quetta from Karachi in a C-130 aircraft along with necessary medical equipment, which also carried 2,000 tents, 5,000 blankets and 4,000 plastic bags donated by the emergency relief centre to participate in the relief work.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has confirmed the death of 115 people in the earthquake. The quake struck an area of approximately 70 kilometres, NDMA Chairman Lt-Gen (retd) Farooq Ahmed Khan told the media.

He said villages of Wachan Kaws and adjacent localities in Ziarat district were severely affected while Pishin’s village Toba Achakzai and adjacent localities suffered moderate loss.The authority advised the survivors of the quake affected areas to stay out of their houses as more aftershocks may hit these areas.

“There is forecast for moderate intensity aftershocks in Ziarat, Pishin, Qilla Abdullah and other parts, so the people have unfortunately no option but to pass this night out of homes,” Farooq Ahmed said. He said as many as 12 moderate aftershocks measuring between 2.7 and 4.5 had hit the areas till Wednesday and these were likely to continue during the next week too.

Farooq Ahmed Khan said that 12 helicopters were busy in airlifting relief goods to the quake-hit people.He said a tent-village had been set up where almost all the displaced people would be accommodated and looked after.

One C-130 plane carrying relief goods has already arrived from Islamabad while the second one is being dispatched. Besides, three C-130 planes are being sent from Karachi.Director-General Meteorological Department Qamaruzzaman Chaudhry has indicated high probability of more aftershocks in Balochistan during next week.

Meanwhile, Provincial Minister for Forests and Wildlife Maulvi Abdul Samad Akhundzada told a news conference in Quetta that as many as 15,000 people had been displaced by the earthquake.He said that the Balochistan government would support the victim families and Chief Minister Aslam Raisani had reached the affected areas immediately after receiving the information.

“The Army, the FC and other state departments, besides some non-government relief agencies and political parties are engaged in assisting the victim families and top priority at the moment is the rescue of people buried under debris,” Akhundzada said.

Meanwhile, according to a PAF press release, the Pakistan Air Force undertook two sorties of C-130 planes from PAF Base Chaklala to Quetta, and one sortie from PAF Base Faisal, Karachi. The relief goods were offloaded at PAF Base Samungli from where they were being dispatched to the calamity-hit areas.

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