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Twelve schoolgirls are confirmed to be among the dead as many in Pakistan and India report being “terrified” by shaking buildings
Scores of people have been killed after an earthquake of 7.5 magnitude struck Afghanistan, say officials, with the effects felt hundreds of miles away.
The United States Geological Survey said the epicentre was south of Feyzabad in northern Afghanistan, in a remote part of the Hindu Kush near the Tajikistan and Pakistan borders.
But the impact was experienced as far away as New Delhi, Islamabad and Lahore, say witnesses.
Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said in a tweet that the earthquake was “the strongest one felt in recent decades.
There were reports of heavy casualties caused in his country but exact numbers are yet to be released by the government.
In the Afghan city of Taloqan, 12 schoolgirls were reported to have been killed in a stampede while trying to escape from shaking buildings.
As dusk fell, Pakistani officials said they had been told of at least 62 deaths from the quake.
Hundreds more may have been injured but most of those affected live some way from communications so precise figures will take some time to emerge.
Several in Pakistan took to Twitter immediately afterwards, describing what they had experienced.
@CricketRebel said: “Just felt earthquake in #lahore, whole house shook for 10 seconds or most. It was by far the most terrifying quake I have felt. #Pakistan.”
Saad Hamid in Islamabad told Sky News: “[I’m] really concerned about the homes and the families of people in the north.
“Islamabad is clearly in panic as most roads are jammed due to traffic rush to homes after the earthquake.”
Sky’s Sam Kiley said the eipicentre was an extremely remote, mountainous part of Afghanistan and as a result casualties were not expected to be as high as they have been after some quakes in the region.
The Times of India reported that strong tremors were felt across New Delhi and the national capital region at around 2.45pm local time (9.15am UK time).
Residents in Kashmir, where electricity and phone lines are apparently down, told ANI news that it was “terrifying”.
Sky’s India Producer Neville Lazarus said: “We rushed out of our building and went down for some time. As soon as we did we saw the whole street full of people.
“It was quite a scary sort of a moment because of what happened six months ago in Nepal.
“In 2005, Pakistan experienced something almost on the same parallel as this one. An estimate is that 60,000 people died in that earthquake.”
Courtesy of Sky News
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Reblogged this on WeatherAction News and commented:
So very sad. The last report I saw had 70 dead, mostly in Pakistan. This came a half day following an R5 (top level) period by WeatherAction and also an elevated warning noted by Ben Davidson:
Hopefully someday this information will save lives, however what is needed now is help and buildings that are more able to stand up to earthquakes – a luxury of the developed world.
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