Two killed in earthquake related incidents in Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi/Islamabad
Two persons were killed and 23 others injured in different incidents during Monday afternoon’s earthquake, which hit the twin cities like other parts of Pakistan and neighbouring countries.
55-year-old Perveen Bibi, a resident of Sadiqabad died after falling to the ground. Her dead body was later shifted to Benazir Bhutto Hospital. Another child died in Raja Bazar due to house collapse while seven other sustained injuries as a wall collapsed in the Bird Market near Committee Chowk. Due to earthquake tremors a wall of Ratta Amral Police Station also collapsed but no one was injured in the incident.
Rescue sources confirmed that they shifted 17 injured of the earthquake in District Headquarter Hospital Rawalpindi and six injured were shifted to Holy Family hospital.
The earthquake, which hit parts of the country also led to collapse of some portion of a primary school in Garibabad. Luckily the students were not present in the school at the time of the incident. The tremors recorded at 8.1 at the Richter scale by the Pakistan Meteorological Department has been termed as one of the biggest earthquakes of the history of Pakistan and reminded people of the 2005 earthquake which jolted Azad Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the country.
The earthquake created a sense of panic and fear among the inhabitants of the twin cities. Men, women and children rushed out of the homes and offices reciting verse from Holy Quran. The tremors continued for over two minutes.
Most of the people were so frightened that when the tremors stopped they took lots of time to go back to their houses, shops and office buildings.
As soon as incident occurred, the volunteers, army jawans, social organizations and rescue bodies got active and carried out rescue operations at the sites of incidents.
The incident became talk of the town as the topic of earthquake remained under discussion among the people.
As soon as incident occurred, the volunteers, army jawans, social organisations and rescue bodies got active and carried out rescue operations at the sites of incidents.
Right after the earthquake the telecom companies especially those in high-rise buildings in Islamabad vacated their offices for thorough inspection and asked their employees to go back home for safety reasons.
During earthquake traffic remained jam on the busy roads of twin cities as people plying the roads stopped their vehicles. Once the earthquake ended everyone was trying to reach home to know about their family and remain on the safe place.
Moreover, taking immediate notice of the situation NDMA extended all possible assistance to all DMAs including Provincial and State Disaster Management Authorities FDMA and GBDMA. National Emergency Operation Centre of NDMA has also been activated to monitor the situation 24/7. Pakistan Airforce was requested to carry out aerial photography/survey to analyse the extent of infrastructure damages. SUPARCO has been asked to provide satellite imageries to analyse the extent of damages.
According to spokesman, NDMA teams have also been sent to the northern earthquake affected areas of Chitral, Peshawar/Kohat and Kallar Kahar (Punjab areas) to assess damages in the areas. NDMA help line number 111-157-157 and 9205037 have also been activated to record the updates.
All related agencies are on board in addition NDMA USAR teams and all other emergency services have also been put on high alert. Army started search and rescue operations.
Similarly, NDMA, started to gather information from P/S/F DMAs on damages/losses for quickest mobilization for possible rescue/relief assistance. All hospitals were put on high alert. NDMA in collaboration with Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force and all relevant departments started rescue works to cope with the situation.
NDMA also mobilized all possible relief and rescue efforts to save lives of people in anticipation.
NDMA requests people of Pakistan to stay alert, share information for early initiation of rescue and relief activities in affected areas.
NDMA has also issued advisories to all concerned authorities to exercise caution in next 24 hours in view of expected aftershocks.