Quake damaged 200 houses in Pakistan town

QUETTA - The 7.2 Richter Scale earthquake, which rocked large parts of Balochistan early Wednesday night, damaged 200 mud-houses in Dalbandin town of Pakistan. However, it didn’t cause any casualties, officials said.

“Only a woman patient suffered a heart-attack when the quake struck Quetta, and later died. Four people suffered light injuries in Dalbandin when roofs of their houses collapsed,” an official was quoted by Dawn as saying.

“Most of the mud-wall houses were damaged in and on the outskirts of Dalbandin town,” Deputy Commissioner of Chaghai district Dr. Saeed Jamali told the daily Dawn over phone.

He said that the villages of Killi Qasim Khan, Killi Khuda Bakhsh, Killi Baz Mohammad, Killi Daudabad, Chater and Yakmach were affected. Besides, a number of government offices were damaged.

“Walls of the deputy commissioners house, tehsil office, Levies police station and other offices were damaged, Jamali was quoted as saying.

He also said that many people did not want to return to their damaged homes due to fears of aftershocks.

We have requested the departments concerned to send tents, blankets, food packets and other items of daily use for the affected families, Jamali said, adding that the local administration was providing maximum help to the people.

Ali Dost, One of the residents of Dalbandin, said: I feel bad that my home has been damaged. But I am happy that we did not suffer any loss of life”.

Some houses in Kalat and Surab were also damaged.

However, the situation in Kharan, which is close to the epicentre of the quake, was different and curiously no damage was reported from any part of the town, except for some cracks noticed in walls.

In Quetta, people aware of the devastation caused by the 1935 earthquake in the area, spent the entire night outside their homes despite a spine-chilling minus-seven degrees Celsius temperature.

We cannot put our lives at risk as aftershocks are shaking the earth, said a 50-year-old Mohammad Amaz.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani held a meeting with the chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority in Islamabad on Wednesday and asked him to arrange relief material for the affected areas of Balochistan and remain on alert to meet any emergency.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) spokesman said that necessary relief goods, including food, tents, medicines and blankets, have been rushed to affected areas through two C-130 aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

The Pakistan Air Force and army are on high alert.

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, who was in Islamabad, directed the Provincial Disaster Management Authority to immediately dispatch relief goods for the affected people in Dalbandin.

The governor of Tabuk province of Saudi Arabia, Prince Fahad Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, who was in a desert area of Dalbandin, hunting houbara bustard, when the earthquake hit the region, is safe, an official said.

Prince Fahad Bin Sultan and people of his entourage are safe,” said Chaghai Deputy Commissioner Saeed Jamali, adding that the Saudi prince was in his saloon when the earthquake jolted the area. He said the Saudi governor and his entourage had now moved to Nokundi area.