Twin earthquakes claim 24 lives in Pakistan's north

A disaster-hit rural populace in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), their homes and belongings destroyed or damaged by two moderate-intensity earthquakes that claimed at least 24 lives and injured dozens of others on Saturday, were still waiting for government-pledged aid to arrive on Monday, according to an official. “No government aid has arrived so far. The federal government said they were sending some tents and other aid but nothing has reached here so far,” Attaullah Khan, the Nazim (administrator) for Batgram, one of the worst-hit sub-districts, told IRIN. The provincial government had also pledged aid but none had arrived, Khan added. “The people in Islamabad said they were sending a truckful of aid, but it hasn’t reached here so far,” he maintained. The two earthquakes hit the mountainous region of Pakistan’s north about an hour and a half apart in the afternoon on Saturday, levelling mud-houses, starting landslides and injuring dozens. An official at the Peshawar Seismic Centre said the earthquakes, which measured 5.7 and 5.4 respectively on the Richter Scale, were of moderate intensity. “We will be able to pinpoint the exact epicentre of the earthquake after we’ve received data from the rest of Pakistan,” Mahmood Ahmed, a meteorologist at the seismic centre, told IRIN from Peshawar. The earthquakes were felt all across the NWFP and stretched across Pakistani-controlled Kashmir to Srinagar in the section of the disputed valley controlled by India, Ahmed added. Residents in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, also reported tremors which caused high-rise buildings to sway disconcertingly for a few moments. However, the impact was experienced at its worst in towns and villages across the NWFP, particularly in the districts of Mansehra and sub-districts, Balakot and Batgram, where residents were reported to have spent a second night in sub-zero conditions out in the open after their homes were damaged or destroyed by the quakes. The worst single disaster occurred in Batgram sub-district when a heavily-laden passenger van was struck by a falling boulder after a landslide was triggered off by the earthquakes. Ghulam Sarwar, a local police official, told IRIN that 13 bodies had been recovered from the vehicle, which was knocked off the narrow mountain road, by the force of the impact, and fell into a river. Sarwar said it was difficult to gauge just how bad the situation was in areas and settlements beyond the few roads that snake across the Hindukush mountain range because snow-blocked roads and the rugged, difficult terrain made it difficult for squads sent on humanitarian scouting missions to return quickly. Hundreds of homes and other buildings had been destroyed or damaged with fearful residents camping out in the freezing cold, as they awaited help, Khan, the district administrator, said. But locals had rallied to help each other out. “If someone’s house collapsed, his neighbours are helping him out,” Khan added. In the meantime, reports of more injured people were continuing to filter in, he maintained. “This is difficult terrain, it’s mountainous, there’s snow and no telephones, so the news is continuing to filter in,” he added. Another tremor early on Sunday hadn’t served to alleviate fears, he said. “There was another earthquake here this morning. The people here are very frightened,” Khan added.