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Puck
The Texan
Joined: 05 Jan 2004
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 Sun Oct 09, 2005 10:12 am South Asian Quake Toll Nears 30,000 |
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South Asian quake toll nears 20,000
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Rescue workers pulled survivors from rubble and uncovered bodies from debris in Islamabad and elsewhere Sunday, a day after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake caused devastation across South Asia.
Nearly 20,000 people were estimated killed in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan as a result of Saturday's quake.
The death toll is expected to rise once remote areas of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir and the country's North-West Province are reached. Communication to many of those areas was cut off because of the temblor, and landslides had rendered roads inaccessible.
Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf issued a plea on Sunday for foreign aid -- specifically, cargo helicopters and relief goods such as tents and blankets.
Helicopters are necessary, he said, because roads leading into some remote areas have been buried by landslides and the areas cannot be reached.
Musharraf said it was difficult to reach remote areas, "which are mountains anywhere over 10,000 feet."
"We can only go by roads, and roads also don't reach to every corner, so therefore it's only helicopter access that we have. Things are not as simple as one would see in the West."
Musharraf said he had asked the U.S. government to send helicopters from Afghanistan, and had been promised those helicopters.
The president planned to tour quake-struck areas for a second day on Sunday, the first of a three-day period of national mourning declared by the Pakistan government.
Pakistan's military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, told CNN that the country had launched its largest relief operation.
"In certain areas, the entire villages -- they have collapsed. In certain areas, almost entire towns, they have vanished from the scene," he said.
Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said at least 19,136 people have died in Pakistan alone, and 41,000 are injured. The majority of those deaths are thought to have occurred in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
The dead include 250 girls whose bodies were recovered from a school at Gari Habi Ullaha between Manshera and Muzaffarabad.
Another military spokesman, Brig. Shah Jahan, said relief and rescue workers have yet to access 30 percent to 40 percent of the affected areas.
Eyewitnesses report the city of Balakot, in the North-West Province, is destroyed. "It is likely the ground zero," Sultan told CNN.
Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, also suffered heavy damage, including a Pakistani army hospital, and had a high casualty toll.
"It's reasonable to assume the casualties in Balakot alone would be in the few thousand," said CNN senior international correspondent Satinder Bindra, who took an aerial tour of the area with the Pakistani army.
In Muzaffarabad, mass burials could be seen taking place, he said.
More than 24 hours after the earthquake, rescue workers were still trying to free about 100 people believed trapped in the rubble of the collapsed Islamabad apartment building. Rescue workers reported hearing voices from under the debris. An estimated 97 people in the building survived; 20 bodies have been found.
The total death toll stood Sunday at 19,638, including one death in Afghanistan -- a young girl in Jalalabad who died when a wall of her home collapsed.
The quake hit Saturday at 8:50 a.m. (11:50 p.m. ET Friday). Its epicenter was about 60 miles north-northeast of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. It was felt in major cities, including Islamabad and Lahore, and India's capital of New Delhi. (See scenes of major damage in the capital - :44)
In Amritsar, east of Lahore, a man sobbed as he described losing his business.
"The earthquake struck and minutes after I got a call that smoke was coming out of my shop. I rushed and saw that my shop was on fire. I have suffered massive losses."
Frantic efforts to rescue survivors continued in Islamabad early Sunday morning. Video footage from Pakistani television showed crowds of people climbing on the rubble of an apartment building and attempting to free those trapped under large concrete slabs. (Watch the latest rescue efforts - 1:10)
Many people were still in their beds when the quake struck. Witness Malik Abdul Manan, who lives in Islamabad, said he and his family "woke up and ran out. The shocks went on for a long time." (More witness accounts)
Stunned Pakistanis, many covered with blood, were camped out in the streets on Sunday, fearful of returning home because of aftershocks, one of which measured 6.3 in magnitude.
Help offered
Political tensions between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region took a back seat as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called Musharraf and offered help. Musharraf thanked him for his offer.
The two nations have fought three wars -- two of them over Kashmir -- since independence from British rule in 1947.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who saw aerial views of the devastation, said "we have provided for a lot of alternate housing. Luckily, the weather is not that cold yet so people are living in tents, sleeping bags. Blankets, water, food and a lot of help is coming from all over the country and overseas also."
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, or Jammu-Kashmir, the death toll stood at about 256, according to local government, army and police officials.
Some 700 other people were injured in Jammu-Kashmir as well, according to the police and military. Local officials estimate more than 1,000 dwellings have been damaged or destroyed across Jammu-Kashmir.
Qamar Uz Zaman, director-general of the Pakistani Meteorological Department, told CNN that "this was the strongest earthquake in the area during the last hundred years."
The United States, Britain, Germany, Turkey, Japan, the United Nations and non-governmental humanitarian groups have marshaled resources to help the region. (Details)
Shallow quake
The quake was "quite shallow," said David Applegate, senior science advisor for earthquake and geologic hazards for the U.S. Geological Survey. "That means the shaking is going to be very intense."
The fact that Islamabad was near the epicenter "means a fairly large urban population has experienced some strong shaking," Applegate said.
The National Earthquake Information Center put the quake at 7.6 magnitude, which it considers "major." The Pakistani Meteorological Department put the magnitude at 7.5, and Japan's Meteorological Agency put it at 7.8.
In February 2004, a pair of earthquakes registering 5.5 and 5.4 magnitude killed at least 21 people and injured dozens more. Hundreds of homes built of mud, stone and timber were destroyed in a rugged, mountainous area about 90 miles northwest of Islamabad.
CNN senior international correspondents Satinder Bindra and Matthew Chance, correspondent Ram Ramgopal, producers Syed Mohsin Naqvi and John Raedler and journalists Mukhtar Ahmed in Srinagar and Tom Coghlan in Kabul contributed to this report.
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Oct. 8: A view of a collapsed 10-story apartment building after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake jolted Islamabad, Pakistan.
Oct. 8: Pakistans President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visit a collapsed apartment building.
I am rather shocked that hurricane Katrina got sooooo much talk earlier, but, at least from what I have seen, this earthquake has received very little coverage. Is so sad though. I definately hope that the people are getting help.
Last edited by Puck on Mon Oct 24, 2005 9:01 pm; edited 2 times in total
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IntrepidIsMe
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| Sun Oct 09, 2005 12:17 pm |
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I've noticed that too, about the coverage thing. This is really sad, its hard to imagine something like this happening, from so far away.
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Birdy
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Joined: 20 Sep 2004
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| Sun Oct 09, 2005 1:53 pm |
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Horrible. I heard stories on the radio that they were looking for children, they heard them scream/talk/shout out of buildings, but couldn't (yet) get to them 
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TrekkieMage
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| Sun Oct 09, 2005 5:11 pm |
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That's horrible
I heard something briefly about it (I don't remember where) and didn't understand what they were talking about.
I hope that they're getting enough aid to them.
Unfortunetly, I think that because of all these disasters people are getting quicker getting help where it needs to go. It's not such a huge shock anymore. It's just...sad.
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Superman
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Joined: 06 Dec 2003
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| Sun Oct 09, 2005 6:58 pm |
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This is why the world should unite. We're killing each other in wars, yet if we could work together, it'd be better when the time comes to face a common enemy - Mother Nature.
But I know that is an idealistic view.
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TrekkieMage
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| Sun Oct 09, 2005 7:30 pm |
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^Probably. But it's a nice idealistic view 
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Founder
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| Sun Oct 09, 2005 9:26 pm Re: South Asian Quake Toll Nears 20,000 |
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| Puck wrote: | | I am rather shocked that hurricane Katrina got sooooo much talk earlier, but, at least from what I have seen, this earthquake has received very little coverage. Is so sad though. I definately hope that the people are getting help. |
Why is that shocking?
Katrina affected AMERICA. That affected foreign nations. Of course, there will be more covered in America about Katrina.
I bet in those countries, the coverage is everywhere. But there was next to nothing with Katrina.
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Puck
The Texan
Joined: 05 Jan 2004
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| Sun Oct 09, 2005 10:11 pm |
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Your point? Those people are just as good as any American citizen, and they deserve just as much help as any American. The lack of coverage, to me, seems to imply that we don't care about helping them. Who cares how they covered Katrina? These people need our aid, but clearly, they aren't going to get it if Americans don't realize what is going on. I am very dissappointed in our media.
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Founder
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| Sun Oct 09, 2005 10:45 pm |
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You don't understand what I'm saying.
My "point" is that the American people care more about seeing disasters when it is near them. In other words, America. Same thing with if a disaster happened in Pakistan, the people would care more on that then one happening in Japan. Its not bad. It makes sense.
I'm not saying they are lesser people and dont deserve our help. We should do everything to help them.
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Lord Borg
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| Sun Oct 09, 2005 10:55 pm |
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I think I get andy's point. Most of the Tusnami coverage that i can recall, is the aid part, not the disaster part.
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TrekkieMage
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| Sun Oct 09, 2005 11:20 pm |
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I think part of the reason coverage may be sparse (and I don't think this is 'right' or 'correct' it's just a theory) is that people's reactions have numbed and some people are begining to feel overwhelmed by these repeated images of death and destruction.
I know that personally, I'm having a hard time with it. It seems that every time I've turned around this year there has been another death, or disaster. And as much as I want to care and as much as I want to help, and feel sorry, I'm just beginning to feel numb.
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Lord Borg
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| Sun Oct 09, 2005 11:50 pm |
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It could be. There was several big things in canada recently my gf told me about, but I never saw it on the news here. It could be theres so much news in america.
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TrekkieMage
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| Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:02 am |
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I don't think it's just that there is so much news. I think it's that there is so much bad news that is all so similar. Tsunami, two hurricanes, earthquake, war...Anything I'm forgetting?
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Lord Borg
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| Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:07 am |
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A terror threat in the New York Subway? (I think)
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Theresa
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| Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:09 am |
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Not to mention several people died from torrential rain up and down the east coast... Did you notice that 72 hours of down pour, Chris?
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PrankishSmart
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| Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:20 am |
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| TrekkieMage wrote: | | I don't think it's just that there is so much news. I think it's that there is so much bad news that is all so similar. Tsunami, two hurricanes, earthquake, war...Anything I'm forgetting? |
The bombings in bali last week. The bombings in london a couple of months ago. About 3 or 4 major plane crashes this year, too.
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PrankishSmart
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| Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:23 am Re: South Asian Quake Toll Nears 20,000 |
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| Founder wrote: | | Puck wrote: | | I am rather shocked that hurricane Katrina got sooooo much talk earlier, but, at least from what I have seen, this earthquake has received very little coverage. Is so sad though. I definately hope that the people are getting help. |
Why is that shocking?
Katrina affected AMERICA. That affected foreign nations. Of course, there will be more covered in America about Katrina.
I bet in those countries, the coverage is everywhere. But there was next to nothing with Katrina. |
It's strange because I live in Australia yet the coverage with the katrina disaster was covered WAY more than with this asia quake. Yet, the death toll is already at 20,000, so in comparison with katrina, more likely ten fold worse.
What does that tell you now?
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Seven of Nine
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| Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:24 am |
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Here, the news coverage so far seems to be about the same, but there again the Conservative Party Conference is getting a lot of coverage too.
I'm feeling numbed by all this disaster now. I want to help, but it just doesn't affect me in the way it used to.
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TrekkieMage
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| Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:42 am Re: South Asian Quake Toll Nears 20,000 |
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| PrankishSmart wrote: | | Founder wrote: | | Puck wrote: | | I am rather shocked that hurricane Katrina got sooooo much talk earlier, but, at least from what I have seen, this earthquake has received very little coverage. Is so sad though. I definately hope that the people are getting help. |
Why is that shocking?
Katrina affected AMERICA. That affected foreign nations. Of course, there will be more covered in America about Katrina.
I bet in those countries, the coverage is everywhere. But there was next to nothing with Katrina. |
It's strange because I live in Australia yet the coverage with the katrina disaster was covered WAY more than with this asia quake. Yet, the death toll is already at 20,000, so in comparison with katrina, more likely ten fold worse.
What does that tell you now? |
Part of it may have been that nobody really expected the results of Katrina. I think everyone expected that al the evacuations and recovery would go smoothly. The fact that there were all of these images of people (mostly African American) standing on roofs calling for help, and the chaos of the superdome, and the general failure of the relief efforts shocked everyone. That's not supposed to happen here. It may sound a bit selfish and cocky, but that's what people were thinking.
Oh, thanks for pointing out the disasters I missed. I think o.O
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webtaz99
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| Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:00 am |
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1) The US has more news crews and news TV channels than any other country.
2) The Liberals can't blame Bush for the lack of or poor quality of response in other countries.
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Birdy
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| Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:22 am |
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My radio said there are estimates of 40.000 deaths, and over 60.000 casualties... 
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Otter
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| Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:27 pm |
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Horrible indeed!, our worlds goin belly up 
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webtaz99
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| Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:20 pm |
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Keep things in perspective.
The Black Death and the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918 killed 1 of every 3 people!!
I'm not saying that these recent events are not horrible, but on the other hand the sky is not falling.
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IntrepidIsMe
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| Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:23 pm |
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We still have the Avian Flu to look forward to?
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Seven of Nine
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Joined: 16 Jun 2001
Posts: 7871
Location: North East England
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| Tue Oct 11, 2005 1:37 am |
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And it's now been proven that Spanish flu started as avian flu, and it mutated...
... exactly what they're worried about now
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