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Afghanistan-Pak-India
3,000 18,000 30,000 die as quake causes devastation
2005-10-09
Pakistan’s worst-ever earthquake devastated the country on Saturday and killed over 3,000 people, leaving thousands others injured and homeless. Measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale, the earthquake was centred in the Hindu Kush ranges. The first earthquake hit at 8:51am in the morning, and more than 10 aftershocks were felt until late in the evening. Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, the federal interior minister, confirmed that over 1,000 people had died. However, unofficial estimates put the number of dead at over 3,000.

Sherpao said that Muzaffarabad, Balakot, Bagh, several cities of NWFP, Lahore, Gurjat, Mandi Bahaudin, Rawalpindi and other parts of the country were hit by the catastrophic jolts of the earthquake. In Islamabad, one of the blocks of the Margalla Towers - a posh building of luxury apartments – collapsed from the earthquake. Around 250 people, including foreign nationals, were buried alive under the debris of the huge structure. With the number of dead rising rapidly with every update, sources say that the final death toll of the catastrophe could exceed 10,000.

Meanwhile, President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visited the site of the collapsed tower, in sector F-10, and urged the nation to unite in the current national calamity. The president expressed satisfaction at the relief work. The prime minister pledged that the government would provide complete support to the affected families. Sherpao directed the National Crises Management Cell to set up crisis centres in the provincial capitals. A central cell was established in the Interior Ministry.

Followup: AP sets the toll at 18,000.


UPDATE 2pm EDT:

An estimated 30,000 people were killed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir by a massive earthquake, the region's Minister for Works and Communication Tariq Farooq said on Sunday. "Our rough estimates say more than 30,000 people have died in the earthquake in Kashmir," he said.
Posted by:Fred

#40  It seems they never learn (regarding quality control and corruption in the construction industry). Granted the article is about India, but Pakistan can't be that much different.
Posted by: Rafael   2005-10-09 22:17  

#39  they weren't - AP has clue #1 - pancakes instead of boxes....
Posted by: Frank G   2005-10-09 22:13  

#38  No one in my neighborhood was in the street handing out candy and undulating over this.

allenists can learn a whole bunch from us but they won't.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom   2005-10-09 22:11  

#37  Of course we mourn the death of innocents, as anyone with a heart must. BUT, they died because the buildings fell on them as a result of the earthquake. Those who knowingly built substandard buildings (and I suspect that if we'd sent Frank G. over to check before the quake, we'd have found not one building up to standard) are the ones who murdered them.
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-10-09 22:03  

#36  The Indian subcontinent is moving at 40 mm/year. From my work in 1970 to 1972 on the San Andreas fault in California, we measured steady regional shifts of 30 mm/year. On Roberta Drive in Woodside (down below SF), we took repeated measurements across the old fault line. Locked up tight. There was a 3' dia redwood stump left over from 1906 quake. The west half of the stump was 12' further north than their right side. That is a lot of strain released! The movement in the Indian theater of seismic operations is 1/3 more than that of California.

The thing that impressed me about pictures of building rubble and damage is the almost total lack of reinforcing rods in stone masonry and concrete. The apartment concrete floors had rebar, but they were pancaked on each other due to the failure of the columns. Typical third world SOP.

Insh'Allah my behind! Ignorance, corruption, and lack of leadership on the part of governments.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2005-10-09 21:58  

#35  Ditto, Rafael. A true BGO (Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious).
Posted by: Zenster   2005-10-09 21:41  

#34  We have drifted away from the teachings of Islam and abandoned jihad

toldja so...not that a blind man couldn't see this reaction coming a mile away

Posted by: Rafael   2005-10-09 20:26  

#33  Would it be a good thing or a bad thing to send FEMA to help?
Posted by: Grans Theting3646   2005-10-09 20:17  

#32  Well, given what we've seen about Katrina and Rita, I expect to find that the casualty estimates right now are higher than they will eventually turn out to be, and that the people that died are going to turn out to not be the corrupt politicians who helped set up the situation in Pakistan in the first place.
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2005-10-09 20:14  

#31  What happened in Islamabad: An eyewitness account
WHAT I SAW AND GATHERED

http://kashmirimages.info/default.asp?url=Opinion.htm

I saw the jihadi outfits working very actively. The defunct Lashkar-e-Taiba (presently called Jamat ud Dawa) was the most active of them all. Dawa workers did not have good equipment but they were trying to using a heavy hammer to rescue the people stranded inside. Dawa's number two Makki was of the view that the earthquake was a punishment from Allah to his sinful people. "We have drifted away from the teachings of Islam and abandoned jihad. The people of Islamabad are corrupt to the bones. They are proud of their real estate property. God has taught them a lesson. We should open our eyes and seek Allah's forgiveness and come to the right path i.e. the path of jihad." He said.
According to the eyewitnesses, when the tower collapsed, the passersby started picking up the belongings of the people instead of helping them.
Posted by: john   2005-10-09 20:05  

#30  I guess you can say; 'they had it comin...!', paying their respects to Katrina and Rita...and a fine 'How do you do?!'
Posted by: smn   2005-10-09 16:22  

#29  If this had happend to a town full of flag burning, finger waving, OSB plakard holding nutters then that is a different story.....
Posted by: Shistos Shistadogloo   2005-10-09 16:13  

#28  A spokesman for Jamat-ud-Dawa, a group drawn from the ranks of Lashkar, said the charity's mosques, hospitals, schools and Islamic seminaries were obliterated in Saturday's earthquake that killed more than 20,000 people.

Boy howdy, that forcefully extracted one or two lachrymose molecules from my tear ducts. Now where did I put my femto-violin?

While this disaster is nothing I would wish upon myriad innocents, Pakistan has been the prime nexus of so much proliferation and regional instability that it is high time this nation's people gain an understanding of how internal corruption has crippled building code enforcement, emergency preparedness and a host of other critical civil services that could have gone a long way towards ameliorating the current death toll.

I make no fun of the many innocent women and children that have died in this disaster. I do find it nearly impossible to mourn the demise of so many able-bodied men who very cheerfully commited themselves to the cause of genocide and atrocities.

Good riddance.
Posted by: Zenster   2005-10-09 16:03  

#27  2b, i agree, as much as they gloat at our natural disaters, celebrate 911 etc, as if allen is dishing out punishment...There are women and children buried under rubble..Lets all have some respect...Think about it for a second.
Posted by: Shistos Shistadogloo   2005-10-09 15:36  

#26  good! and no I'm not gonna apologize
Posted by: Frank G   2005-10-09 15:35  

#25  Salvation Army quake assistance
Posted by: Seafarious   2005-10-09 15:26  

#24  Meanwhile, Allen is very, very cross with the LeT

So is the Indian Army (they killed 8 infiltrators on the LOC this morning)

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Scores of activists from an Islamist charity linked to a banned Pakistani militant organisation died in the devastating earthquake that struck Pakistan's border with India at the weekend.

The militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, was outlawed by Pakistan in January 2002, a month after its fighters were accused of taking part in an attack on India's parliament in New Delhi -- an act that brought South Asia's nuclear rivals to the brink of war.

A spokesman for Jamat-ud-Dawa, a group drawn from the ranks of Lashkar, said the charity's mosques, hospitals, schools and Islamic seminaries were obliterated in Saturday's earthquake that killed more than 20,000 people.


"Many of our members have been killed. They are in scores while several others are still trapped under the rubble," the spokesman said on Sunday.

The spokesman, who did not want to be identified, said the Taiba hospital run by Jamat-ud-Dawa in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani
Kashmir, and several of its mosques and offices were destroyed.
Posted by: john   2005-10-09 15:12  

#23  how about a little respect for the 30,000 dead? Jeesh. 30,000. Think about that for a moment. I usually have a pretty good and often dark sense of humor, but if 30,000 is true, I'm not finding much humor here.
Posted by: 2b   2005-10-09 15:09  

#22  South Asia Quake help.
Posted by: Seafarious   2005-10-09 13:59  

#21  Pakistan Observer 9/25/05:The Holy Qur’an reveals destruction and extermination of nations through such natural disasters that had ignored Almighty Allah’s commandments. It’s time for the Pakistani American people to bow before God and seek His forgiveness and protection from the divine retribution.
Posted by: GK   2005-10-09 13:09  

#20  hey maybe Osama bin hit in the head wid a rock!
Insh'allah
Posted by: Red Dog   2005-10-09 12:21  

#19  The Haliburton E/T division is getting that thing calibrated better, I see.
Posted by: Jackal   2005-10-09 12:13  

#18  Conclusion.
God (Name your own) Doesn't like Muslims.

And his aim is improving, each strike is closer and closer.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2005-10-09 12:02  

#17  Global warming? Baaaad Bush!
Posted by: Bobby   2005-10-09 11:58  

#16  RJ - to paraphrase someone else -

Life is tough. It's a lot tougher if you're stupid.
Posted by: Ebbugum Flavirt6621   2005-10-09 11:47  

#15  Well, let's see?

Katrina death toll, 1,200 (Non Muslim Nation)

Today's earthquake toll 18,000
Tsunami death toll 118,000
Total 136,000

Afganistan, 97% Muslim 136,000 Dead
United States 1% Muslim 1,200 Dead

Ratio 113.3 Muslims dead to 1 Non-Muslim Dead

Conclusion.
God (Name your own) Doesn't like Muslims.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2005-10-09 11:37  

#14  CNN reports that Musharraf asked the US to send choppers from Afganistan.

A good time to drop off some teams...
Posted by: 3dc   2005-10-09 11:26  

#13  Via Instapundit, here's a good blog round-up of earthquake news: The Moderate Voice.
Posted by: Seafarious   2005-10-09 11:17  

#12  Followup: AP sets the toll at 18,000.

From the same folks who told you 10,000 died in NOLA. The don't have the slightese idea.
Posted by: Glereng Chaiger5794   2005-10-09 11:15  

#11  Kashmir..Masherbrum Mt....Nope.

http://www.tomaatnet.nl/~wesker/jpg/jow58.jpg
Posted by: Red Dog   2005-10-09 01:09  

#10  Kashmir..no evidence here of tectonic plates or movement of the earth's crust.

Masherbrum Mt. Kashmir... Nope.

rocky shute w/ climber...Nope


highest battallion base in the world. PAK
...Nope
Posted by: Red Dog   2005-10-09 00:54  

#9  Is it wrong to presume that many of Pakistan's splendid madrassahs may not have been built exactly to code? Were they all full because the quake hit at prayer-time? One can only hope.
Posted by: Zenster   2005-10-09 00:47  

#8  Yeah, so more jihad for everyone.
Posted by: Rafael   2005-10-09 00:27  

#7  I'd give it a couple days before some turban hollers that it's God's punishment because they're not holy enough.
Posted by: Fred   2005-10-09 00:24  

#6  or it could be a Earth-crust shift like a bazillion before...just more fun to let the natives know it goes both ways :-)
Posted by: Frank G   2005-10-09 00:21  

#5  As a licensed Civil Engineer in CA and a holder of BSCE and extended studies regarding structural engineering ( 14 units short of MSCE) I think it's a sign Allan doesn't like Muslims. Gotta be....using the Koran and Mooslim MSM as my source of all reputable and widely-held knowledge, then, this time, the Muzzies are fucked. Allan's pissed...something about Thailand and Bali....
Posted by: Frank G   2005-10-09 00:19  

#4  It was along the Indo Paki border.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom   2005-10-09 00:14  

#3  It must have been at the eastern edge of the the Hindu Kush, then.
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2005-10-09 00:12  

#2  Haven't seen much. Afgha.com has a report that there were two kids killed in Jalalabad, but nothing else. I'd guess most of the worst is in Pak Kashmir.
Posted by: Fred   2005-10-09 00:09  

#1  Does anyone know how bad the destruction is in Afghanistan?
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2005-10-09 00:04  

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