30,000 Children Left Homeless in Quake-hit Balochistan

by rumana husain | October 28, 2008 at 08:41 pm

1263 views | 66 Recommendations | 24 comments

Over 70,000 people, including 30,000 children, have been left homeless in quake-hit Balochistan, Unicef said on Friday, as health workers warned that deadly diseases were spreading.

It seems that the violence that is going around in the world has somehow also permeated the Earth's surface and a lot of violent activity is taking place these days underneath as well. Vibrations then cause the entire planet to quiver. The latest is in Balochistan, a province of Pakistan that borders with Iran and Afghanistan where scores of people have died due to an earthquake.

Aftershocks trigger panic in Quetta. Death toll could be as high as 190, fears the District Naib Nazim Ziarat Momin Khan Dummar, talking to newsmen in Quetta.

Latest: Another earthquake jolts some towns in Sindh, namely, Larkana, Dadu, Shahdadkot and Jacobabad.

WAM: About 175 people were killed when a powerful earthquake hit the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan on Wednesday, flattening about 1,500 mud-walled homes and triggering landslides, Reuters reports.The epicentre of Wednesday's quake was in Ziarat district, a scenic valley and one of the main tourist spots in Baluchistan.
Chief district administrator Dilawar Khan said 170 people had been killed in that district and 350 injured.'The rescue operation is over. We've retrieved all bodies and the injured. Now the problem is relief as there's a shortage of tents, blankets and food while the weather is getting cold,' Khan told Reuters.

Associated Press Writer= QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) - A government official says at least 80 people have been killed in an earthquake in southwestern Pakistan.

Sohail ur Rahman, the top civilian official in the part of Baluchistan province where the quake struck, told Dawn News TV station he fears the toll from Wednesday's quake could be "much more."

He says at least 500 houses had been destroyed.

The quake struck two hours before dawn in the impoverished province.

It had a preliminary magnitude of 6.4, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It was a shallow 10 miles (15 kilometers) below the surface.

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Sanjay Jha

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 20:47 on October 28th, 2008

rumana husain, I like this story. Thanks for bringing it to us so fast. Please keep us updated. I think death toll might go up. Indian subcontinent seems to be jinxed with quakes.

rumana husain

at 20:50 on October 28th, 2008

sanjay, thanks for the gs flag as well as for prompting me to find out the latest on this.

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 21:01 on October 28th, 2008

rumana husain, I like this story. It's a very important story.

hadsie

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 21:19 on October 28th, 2008

rumana husain, I like this story. It's good stuff.

rumana husain

at 22:01 on October 28th, 2008

sanjay thanks for adding the video.

Sanjay Jha

at 22:03 on October 28th, 2008

You are welcome. Please keep on adding more updates.

Rachel Nixon

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 23:02 on October 28th, 2008

rumana husain, thank you for the update on this important story.

rumana husain

at 23:09 on October 28th, 2008

rachel, thanks for the flag as well as your comment.

Rachel Nixon

at 23:36 on October 28th, 2008

Members can follow the latest on the earthquake from the microblogosphere by using our Scan tool on Pakistan.

solusiplus (not verified)

at 00:47 on October 29th, 2008

Thank' s for your story. It is very important

Sanjay Jha

at 01:43 on October 29th, 2008

Latest reports coming from Pakistan have said more than 160 people were killed and hundreds are wounded in the earthquake which struck in north western Pakistan.

Vinny

at 04:26 on October 29th, 2008

There has been another strong earthquake 40 minutes ago.

M 6.2, Pakistan
37 minutes ago

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 11:32:42 UTC
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 04:32:42 PM at epicenter

Depth: 10.00 km (6.21 mi)

Tina Kells

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 07:04 on October 29th, 2008

rumana husain, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Eustaquio Santimano

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 07:07 on October 29th, 2008

rumana husain, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Fairbanks

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 09:21 on October 29th, 2008

6.4 is not powerful. The damage is due to construction materials and methods. There is a shortage of lumber in that region so they build with local stone and brick. Wooden structures would merely creak a little in a 6.4. Stone and brick come apart and collapse under gravity when the ground moves. Steel reinforcement would hold things together somewhat and injuries would be much reduced.

Rhonda J Mangus

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 13:30 on October 29th, 2008

rumana husain, I like this story. It's good stuff.

rumana husain

at 17:16 on October 29th, 2008

tina, eustaquio and rhonda, thanks for the flags. vinny, thank you for the prompt update. fairbanks, i agree with you. it was similar reasons when we lost almost 80,000 lives in the october 8, 2005 earthquake. though it was 7.6 on the richter scale, which is a very strong earthquake, but the damage in pakistan's northern areas much exceeded than where earthquakes of the same or close to the same intensity had occurred elsewhere in the world. most of the disaster system in pakistan is reactionary and unfortunately we are neither equipped nor take any preemptive measures to meet with such natural disasters. thank you for your comment.