LAHORE: Panic gripped the provincial metropolis after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake jolted the country’s upper and central parts as well as the provincial metropolis forcing majority of citizens to literally run outside their houses, offices and other buildings to save their lives here Friday. “The epicenter of the quake was at the Hindukush region in Afghanistan and its intensity was 6.4 while it was 210km deep and was felt in most of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and around half of the Punjab. The tremors lasted for 8 to 10 seconds and were felt strongly.
Following the earthquake, panic gripped Lahore and majority of the citizens termed this earthquake the worst of its kind they had ever encountered in their lives.
The citizens rushed outside their offices, homes and other buildings reciting verses of Holy Quran. Following the quake, all the multi-storeyed 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.
Amer Mushtaq, a citizen, said he was present in the Shaheen Complex when he felt the quake. He said the entire building started to jolt and people especially women started to rush with loud shouts. He said he along with his office staff also rushed outside.
Similar scenes were seen outside high rise structures 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 working in my office on the 6th floor of Arfa Karim Tower when the building started to shake intensely. The big glass windows of my office were jolting badly and suddenly I realised it was an earthquake,” said Shakeel Ahmed Butt.
He said when he came out of his office, he saw people running downwards and the stairs were already full.
“It is the scariest moment of my life and I had recited Kalma thinking the last time had come,” said Ikramullah Khan, a staffer of a private office in a mega structure in Gulberg. He said he and his 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.
The DCO Lahore said aftershocks are expected and hospitals, rescue organistation are on high alert.