Death toll in Pakistan quake climbs to 22 as rescuers assess damage

Rescue workers battled on Wednesday to reach people affected by a shallow earthquake that rocked northeast Pakistan a day earlier, killing at least 22 people and injuring hundreds more as it tore roads apart and felled buildings.

Schools were shuttered near the quake-hit city of Mirpur in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir where poor areas were reduced to rubble and the towering brick fences surrounding expensive homes had crumbled.

Residents combed through the wreckage and assessed the damage inflicted on their homes, with large cracks defacing walls in the houses that still stood.

"I lost my house. I lost everything," said Abdullah Khan, whose three-bedroom home in Jatlan village on the outskirts of Mirpur was flattened by the quake.

The Pakistan military continued to lead search and rescue operations as day broke with fears growing that the death toll may jump again.

"Damage assessment based on aerial and initial physical survey done -- 22 people lost life including an army soldier," the military's information wing said late Tuesday.

Rain continued to inundate the area after overnight showers turned already damaged roads into muddy thoroughfares where livestock roamed freely.

- Roads destroyed -

Mirpur, a city known for its palatial houses, has strong ties to Britain with the majority of its 450,000 residents carrying both British and Pakistani passports.

Rescue operations continued through the night in the area as local hospitals swelled with many patients suffering from multiple fractures.

"I was going to see a friend when the entire area shook with a bang and a huge wall crumbled over me. When I regained my senses I found myself here in this bed," Ali Badshah, a fifth-grade student, told AFP from a hospital in Mirpur where he was being treated for a broken leg.

Near Mirpur, roads were completely destroyed and vehicles overturned by the tremors while bridges, mobile phone towers, and electricity poles were also badly damaged in the melee.

The quake sent people in Lahore and Islamabad running into the streets, while tremors were also felt as far as New Delhi.

The Press Trust of India reported that panicking people rushed out of their homes and offices in several places, including in Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana.

Pakistan straddles part of the boundary where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, making the country susceptible to earthquakes.

The country was also hit by a 7.6-magnitude quake on October 8, 2005, that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

19 killed, dozens wounded as Pakistan jolted by shallow 5.2 quake
Mirpur, Pakistan (AFP) Sept 24, 2019 - At least 19 people have been killed and 300 injured after a shallow earthquake rattled northeastern Pakistan, tearing car-sized cracks into roads and heavily damaging infrastructure.

The quake sent people in Lahore and Islamabad running into the streets. With rescue operations expected to continue overnight, residents in the worst-hit areas described their horror as walls collapsed and houses fell.

The epicentre of the 5.2-magnitude quake was near the Kashmiri city of Mirpur, roughly 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Jhelum in agricultural Punjab province, according to the US Geological Survey.

On one of the district's two main roads, AFP reporters could see cracks at least four feet (1.2 metres) deep, some filling with water from a nearby canal. Television images showed cars wedged in to some cracks, while a bus and a truck lay by the side of the road.

In the village of Sahankikri, on the outskirts of Mirpur, residents said almost all the 400 houses were damaged.

"We are shelterless now," said one, Shamraiz Akhtar.

"I will never foreget the horrible sound" of the quake, another resident, Muhammad Ramzan, told AFP. "It looked like the entire village tossed and turned and spun around."

"We... were sitting having a gossip when suddenly the earthquake shook us all. Fortunately the wall collapsed the other way, burying one of our buffalo," 23-year-old student Nabeel Hussain said.

Piles of rubble could be seen as darkness fell on the village, with the sound of women wailing in mourning. Others spoke only in whispers, fearful of aftershocks.

"At least 19 people have been killed and more than 300 wounded," Sardar Gulfaraz, deputy inspector general of police in Mirpur, said in televised comments.

A second Kashmiri official, minister for rehabilitation Ahmed Raza Qadri, put the death toll at 20.

However, the chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority gave a lower toll at a press conference in Islamabad.

"I can confirm 10 deaths and the number of wounded is 100," its chairman Lieutenant General Mohammad Afzal said, adding that he had received reports of a higher toll.

"Things are under control," he said, adding that the nearby Mangla Dam, one of Pakistan's two main water reservoirs, was unaffected by the quake.

The prime minister of Pakistani Kashmir, Raja Farooq Haider Khan, told reporters that infrastructure had been destroyed.

Roads, mobile phone towers, and electricity poles in the area were badly damaged, Naeem Chughtai, a Mirpur resident living near the city's main hospital, told AFP.

The military deployed "aviation and medical support" teams along with troops to affected areas in Kashmir, according to its spokesman.

-'So anxious'-

Mirpur, a city known for its palatial houses, has strong ties to Britain with the majority of its 450,000 residents carrying both British and Pakistani passports.

Tremors were felt as far as New Delhi. The Press Trust of India reported that panicked people rushed out of their homes and offices in several places, including in Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana.

"The earthquake was felt but there are no reports of any damage," Amir Ali, from the disaster management department in Indian-administered Kashmir, told AFP.

With Indian-held Kashmir's mobile and internet services mostly cut off after New Delhi stripped the region's autonomy in early August, people used social media to express fears about not being able to get in touch with their families in the valley.

"Dear @AmitShah (Home Affairs Minister) please restore mobile services in Kashmir I do not know any update since Aug 5 about my family. We are now feeling so anxious about our family in aftermath of Earthquake," Faizan Peer tweeted.

Pakistan straddles part of the boundary where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, making the country susceptible to earthquakes.

In October 2015, a 7.5-magnitude quake in Pakistan and Afghanistan killed almost 400 people in rugged terrain that impeded relief efforts.

The country was also hit by a 7.6-magnitude quake on October 8, 2005, that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

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