By Farhan Bokhari in Karachi

Published: January 18 2011 22:41 | Last updated: January 18 2011 22:41

A strong earthquake struck parts of southern, south-western and central Pakistan including the city of Karachi just after midnight, prompting widespread panic in a country where memories of large scale casualties from a 2005 earthquake are still fresh.

A government official said the earthquake which took place at about 1:25 am on Wednesday morning local time, measured 7.3 on the Richter scale. A senior municipal officer in Karachi said the earthquake “may have been close to 2005 in its intensity but was shorter in duration. A longer duration earthquake would have been devastating”.

The US geological service recorded the intensity of Tuesday night’s earthquake at 7.2 on the Richter scale.

The 2005 earthquake in north-west Pakistan and parts of the mountainous Kashmir region under Pakistan’s control measured 7.6 on the Richter scale and killed more than 70,000 people .

Local TV channels said tremors from the earthquake lasted for more than 40 seconds.

In Karachi, a city with a population of 18m, residents rushed out of their homes, while in remote parts of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province and the south-western Baluchistan province, rural dwellers fired shots into the air to wake up fellow residents in their neighbourhoods.

Saeed Malik, a Karachi resident speaking to local TV channels, said: “I was fast asleep when I felt as if someone was dragging my bed. I woke up immediately and rushed out of my home. On the streets all around, people had gathered outside their homes and they were all praying”.

“Aftershocks from such a strong earthquake can take place in the next few days,” Mohammad Riaz, the government’s chief meteorologist, told the privately owned GEO TV channel.

Early reports did not suggest either significant numbers of human casualties or material loss beyond cracks in different premises, which TV channels reported to have taken place to some buildings in cities including Karachi.

Government officials warned further damage to infrastructure and property from aftershocks could further destabilise Pakistan just at a time when its authorities are struggling to overcome continuing political and economic uncertainty.

“We are already in a state of high conflict which has jeopardized our political and economic future. The last thing we need right now is an earthquake,” said the Karachi municipal officer.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9f07a69e-2350-11e0-8389-00144feab49a,dwp_uuid=f39ffd26-4bb2-11da-997b-0000779e2340.html#axzz1BQj1Arna

Why so much blood shed in Pakistan, if it is not war and killings, it is natural disasters

Serious

Pakistan was never suppose to be a country. Most of the places where people live were largely inhabited and uninhabitable. But political and religious violence before independence forced the majority muslim populations to move from central parts of India to present day Pakistan. People have built massive cities and dams on fault lines and rivers natural routes and therefore they should expect to face continues natural (or we can say man-made) disasters.

Poor people always going thru one ordeal or the other.Anyhow hope they pull thru thou.

Sunboy400:

Poor people always going thru one ordeal or the other.Anyhow hope they pull thru thou.

They are kind of resilient people.

They endured 3 wars with India.
A devastating floods in the 70s that killed nearly a million people.
Series of earthquakes since 40s with the 2005 being devastating, killing thousands and flattening towns and villages
Absorption of nearly 2/3 of Afghan population during the soviet invasion in 80s and the early 90s civil war.
Experiencing series of suicide bombings, worst than Afghanistan
The recent floods


God have mercy on these people

Tsiya:

They are kind of resilient people.

They endured 3 wars with India.
A devastating floods in the 70s that killed nearly a million people.
Series of earthquakes since 40s with the 2005 being devastating, killing thousands and flattening towns and villages
Absorption of nearly 2/3 of Afghan population during the soviet invasion in 80s and the early 90s civil war.
Experiencing series of suicide bombings, worst than Afghanistan
The recent floods


God have mercy on these people

Meaning what?

And yet we dont appreciate our safe haven called nigeria