Panic grips people after earthquake

LAHORE
Panic and fear gripped the city after the 8.1 magnitude earthquake jolted the country forcing majority of Lahorities to literally run outside their houses, offices and other buildings to save their lives here on Monday.
The earthquake which hit the provincial capital at around 2.10pm is termed as worst of its kind by most of the citizens who claimed that they had never encountered with such jolts in their lives. Citizens were seen standing outside their offices, homes and other buildings reciting verses of holy Quran.
“Earthquake is an unexpected event which cannot be predicted in advance. Hence, the only safety is taking adequate preventive measures,” said DCO Lahore while talking to reporters. He said all the emergency services and hospitals in Lahore were on high alert but no major untoward incident had taken place in the city due to the earthquake. He warned the citizens to remain vigilant as aftershocks were expected.
Met officials said magnitude of Monday’s earthquake was close to the previous earthquake of 2005, but its epicenter was shallow than the previous one. They added that the earthquake in 2005 came at a depth of 26km, while Monday’s earthquake was at a depth of 212.5km.
Following the intensity, all the multi-storey buildings, big shopping malls and other buildings, including residential and office apartments were vacated. A large number of people were seen standing outside commercial plazas minutes after the earthquake and many remained on roads and empty places for a long time even after the earthquake subsided.
Soon after the earthquake, high alert warnings were sent to all the major public and private hospitals.
Shakeel, an eyewitness said he was present in Mayo hospital emergency when the earthquake came and the entire block started to jolt. He said he along with other people which included patients, doctors, attendants of patients and other hospital staff rushed outside. “Those who can’t run due to fractures started reciting verses of Quran in loud voices,” he added.
Similar scenes were seen outside high rise structures in the city such as Arfa Kareem Tower, Siddique Trade centre, Mall of Lahore and many others where people also rushed outside in fear. Traffic was stopped on the roads due to the rush of people.
“I was standing outside my kids school when I felt the shock and heard a strange and very loud sound, which was coming from the Expo Center,” said Shahab, a resident of Judicial Colony. He said the big glass windows of Expo Center building were jolting badly due to the earthquake. He said he had witnessed people running outside their nearby homes.
“I was in my office on the 7th floor of Shaheen Complex, Egerton Road when the earthquake came,” said Asad, an official of Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC). “It is the scariest moments of my life and I had recited Kalma thinking the last time had come,” Asad said, adding he and his fellow colleagues rushed towards emergency stairs, which were already jam packed with the people. “There are loud screams of women in the stairs while people running downwards without looking at others while many women are weeping and shaking badly,” he maintained.
Jamil, a rickshaw mechanic near Ichhara said, the earthquake was worst he had seen. He said the intensity of the earthquake could be gauged from the fact that he had seen the metro overhead bridge shaking. He said he immediately ran away from the bridge fearing it may fell.
Majida Imran, a resident of Alhamd Colony said, she was cooking when all paintings and other wall hangings in her house fell on the floor. She said one of a ceiling fans in her house also fell with a big bang. She said she rushed out and saw all her neighbours were out of their homes and reciting verses of holy Quran.
Tanya Qureshi, a senior official of WCLA said that no major loss to buildings was reported in walled city of Lahore. She said soon after the earthquake nine teams were dispatched to assess the damage to the buildings. She said a special team had also been constituted for detailed structural inspections of monuments, historical buildings and high architectural buildings inside the walled city.
Talking about the dangerous buildings, she said recently the authority had already issued evacuation orders to the residents of 179 buildings while earlier this year the authority had demolished 68 such buildings. She said the WCLA teams would reassess the structural stability of these buildings too and appropriate action would be taken after the survey.
CDGL’s spokesman claimed that no loss of life, injury or loss to buildings was reported in any town of the provincial capital. He said however rescue teams were directed to remain vigilant and response immediately in case of any untoward incident. He, however, said that several shock stricken citizens especially children were brought to different hospitals for treatment.