19 Killed, Over 300 Injured after Earthquake Rocks North Pakistan, Tremors Felt in Parts of India

Mangalore Today News Network

Srinagar, Sep 24, 2019: At least 19 people were killed and more than 300 injured after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolted several cities in the northern parts of Pakistan, including capital Islamabad, on Tuesday. The tremors were felt in parts of India like Delhi and NCR region, Chandigarh, Dehradun and Kashmir.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police in Mirpur, Sardar Gulfaraz Khan, said at least 19 people were killed and over 300 injured in Mirpur and its surrounding areas Yahoo reported.

 

The quake struck 23 km north of Jhelum in Pakistan at a relatively shallow depth of 10 km, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported, adding that the magnitude of the earthquake was 5.8 on the Richter scale. Jhelum is located in northeastern Pakistan roughly 120 km southeast of Islamabad. Mirpur is on Pakistan’s side of the disputed territory of Kashmir.

"The epicentre was near the India-Pakistan border. The closest big city to the epicentre is Rawalpindi (in Pakistan’s Punjab province)," said JL Gautam, head of operations at the National Centre for Seismology (NCS).

"The (most) damage is in areas between Jhelum and Mirpur," said the chief of Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority, Lieutenant General Mohammad Afzal. "So far we have reports of the death of a girl child and injuries to nearly 50 people."

Some houses collapsed in Mirpur following the earthquake, Deputy Commissioner Raja Qaiser said. Parts of a mosque also collapsed in the area, which is severely affected by the quake. Emergency has been declared in hospitals across the region.

Television channels showed the footage of heavily damaged roads in Mirpur, with many vehicles overturned. Several cars fell into the deep cracks on the roads. The quake was powerful and created panic as people ran out of building, eyewitnesses said.

Several cities, including Skardu, Kohat, Charsadda, Kasur, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Sialkot, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Chitral, Malakand, Multan, Shangla, Okara, Nowshera, Attock and Jhang, felt the tremors.

Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa directed "immediate rescue operation in aid of civil administration" for victims of the earthquake. Army troops with aviation and medical support teams have been dispatched, the media wing of the army tweeted.

Lieutenant General Muhammad Afzal, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, said that most of the damage was done in Mirpur and Jhelum. "We are assessing the damage to life and property," he said.

People rushed out of their homes and offices in panic in several parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. However, no casualty was reported on this side of the border.