Peshawar, Pakistan // A powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake killed at least 263 people in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Monday, causing landslides in the mountainous region near the epicentre and rocking buildings from Kabul to Dehli.
The majority of fatalities occurred in Pakistan, where 162 people were killed and 1,217 people were injured, Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa province’s disaster management authority said. Authorities in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas said 32 people had died and were 89 injured.
At least 63 people died in Afghanistan, including 12 girls who were trampled to death in a stampede as students fled from their swaying school. Two deaths were confirmed in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
The quake, which struck around midday, was centred 254km north-east of Kabul, close to the Pakistani border. The shocks were felt as far away as Doha. It was nearly as strong as the devastating quake that struck Pakistan-controlled Kashmir in 2005 and killed nearly 80,000 people, but it occurred at a depth of 213.5km – rather than 26km – according to the US Geological Survey.
Pakistani authorities said the death toll is likely to rise, as many of the most affected areas were in mountainous, remote terrain of the Hindu Kush where communications lines were also down. In Pakistan, the air force was assisting the National Disaster Management Agency to conduct relief flights and to help assess the damage.
“QRFs [quick reaction forces] have spread out in respective areas, busy in rescue work mainly in Malakand, Dir, Chitral, Bajaur,” Pakistan military spokesman Lt Gen Asim Bajwa tweeted on Monday evening.
Reports on the injured and dead were still coming in from district administrations across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“We have directed [rescue teams] to keep people away from partially damaged buildings in their areas because aftershocks are expected,” said Latifur Rehman, spokesman for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority. “The damage assessment will be made in the morning; currently we are focusing on rescuing the injured.”
The quake lasted for more than a minute, causing buildings to sway, and some to crumble or collapse.
In Kabul, Peshawar, Islamabad and Delhi, terrified residents and workers streamed out of buildings, fearful of follow-on tremors. In the Pakistani capital, cracks appeared on many of the mostly concrete buildings.
Farther north, the scenic Chitral district in Pakistan was also badly affected, and remained cut off physically. At least 20 people were killed there in collapsing structures and landslides, police said.
Shahid Jalal, who teaches at a school in the Garam Chashma area of Chitral, was in class with his students on Monday when the quake struck. “Students started screaming when everything started shaking. We rushed out and saw big stones rolling down from the hills with huge speed and noise. It was a horrific scene and it seemed that the stone are coming over us,” Mr Jalal, 36, said.
“The area was covered by thick dust while the people were frightened and screaming crazily,” he said. The area was hit by devastating floods in July, and the earthquake was adding to residents’ misery, he said.
Some 36 people died in Shangla district, according to the Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa government.
Peshawar, the provincial capital, sustained more damage than other major cities in northern Pakistan, though only three deaths have been recorded so far. “Many houses and buildings have collapsed in the city,” Peshawar’s district administrator, Arbab Muhammad Asim, said.
The emergency ward of the city’s Lady Reading hospital was full of injured residents, many of whom had been hit by falling debris and collapsing structures.
“We were rushing out of our home when the five-metre-tall boundary wall of my house fell on us,” said Mustafa Gul, 60. His wife, 22-year-old daughter and 20-year-old son were all injured as they rushed out. “All I remember is we were running and I saw bricks falling from the exit gate of my house where we were heading and then suddenly the boundary wall fell and we were all were under it.” Luckily, neighbours were able to rush the family to the hospital.
Beyond the human toll, many of the ancient city’s historic buildings were badly damaged. The Bala Hisar fort, built by the Mughal emperor Babur in the 16th century, sustained significant damage to the upper portions of its southern and western walls. The fort is used as the headquarters of the paramilitary Frontier Corps.
A portion of a minaret collapsed at the Mohabat Khan mosque built by Shah Jehan, the same emperor who constructed the Taj Mahal.
In Kabul, buildings shook heavily and people dashed out into the open, but things calmed down after a couple of minutes. Cracks have been left in walls of some buildings but there did not appear to be any major damage.
In Delhi, where the tremors were less violent, the Metro was halted temporarily, though the airport remained open.
People poured out of their homes and offices, alarmed by the persistence and strength of the quake.
Sreshth Shah, a journalism student at Amity University in Delhi, was in a fourth-floor classroom when the tremors started. After 30 seconds, when the floor continued to shake, teachers began moving their students out of the buildings.
“Even while we headed down, we could feel the tremors from the aftershock,” Mr Shah said. “It was a sight to behold with almost every kid in college downstairs, some taking selfies.”
Ten minutes after the last aftershock subsided, students returned to class.
* Taimur Khan reported from Abu Dhabi. Additional reporting by Samanth Subramanian in New Delhi and Chris Sands in Kabul
