Reported till now 19 dead, more than 300 injured as 5.8-magnitude quake rocks northern Pakistan
A powerful 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolted several cities and northern parts of the country on Tuesday afternoon, leaving at least 19 people dead and over 300 others injured, officials said. At least 100 of those injured are in a critical state.
The tremors lasted for 8-10 seconds and were felt strongly, DawnNewsTV reported.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is currently in the US to attend the United Nations General Assembly, has expressed his grief over the loss of human life. Both he and Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa have issued directives to civilian and military agencies for emergency rescue and relief efforts.
Occurring just after 4pm, the shallow quake had hit 22.3 kilometers north of Jhelum, along the boundary separating the agricultural heartland of Punjab and Azad Kashmir, according to the US Geological Survey.
“The quake was 10 kilometers deep and was felt in most of Punjab province and some parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The worst-hit was Mirpur, Azad Kashmir,” chief meteorologist Muhammad Riaz told AFP.
Other cities where tremors were felt included Islamabad, Mirpur, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Sialkot, Sargodha, Mansehra, Gujrat, Chitral, Malakand, Multan, Shangla, Bajaur, Swat, Sahiwal, and Rahim Yar Khan.
Mirpur Divisional Commissioner Chaudhry Muhammad Tayyab said at least 19 people, three of them young children, were reported to have died and more than 300 others wounded due to the quake. Two of the victims were brought to the hospital dead, seven succumbed to their injuries in Divisional Headquarters Hospital Mirpur, while 10 people died in Jatlan village.
Among the people being treated for their wounds, at least 35 have sustained critical injuries, Tayyab said. The chief of the National Disaster Management Authority later put the number of critical injuries at around 100.
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