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Quake kills more than 19,000 in South Asia
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-09 19:25
A massive earthquake cut a swath of destruction across South Asia Saturday,
killing more than 19,000 people. The worst destruction was in and near the
Pakistani side of the divided and disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, where
the quake flattened dozens of villages and towns, crushing schools and mud-brick
houses.
Zeeshan sits on rubble of his house destroyed
by a huge earthquake in Gari Habibullah, 90 kilometers (56 miles) from
Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2005. Bodies lay in the streets and
villagers pulled debris from collapsed schools and mud-brick homes with
their bare hands on, desperate to find survivors from a huge earthquake
that struck Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, killing more than 18,000
people. [AP] |
At least a dozen bodies were strewn on the streets of Balakot, a devastated
village of about 30,000 just west of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, where the
7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck South Asia shortly before 9 a.m. was
centered. Villagers desperate to find survivors dug with bare hands through the
debris of a collapsed school, searching for children that were heard crying
beneath the rubble.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said 19,136 people were
killed, 17,388 of them in Pakistani Kashmir. The worst-hit city in Pakistani
Kashmir was its capital, Muzaffarabad, where 11,000 died, Sherpao said. He also
said 42,397 were injured.
Helicopters and C-130 transport planes took troops and supplies to damaged
areas on Sunday. But landslides and rain hindered rescue efforts, blocking roads
to some remote areas.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf appealed to the international community to
help with relief efforts. He appealed for medicine, tents, cargo helicopters and
financial assistance. The United States, the United Nations, Britain, Russia,
China, Turkey, Japan, German and India all offered assistance.
"We do seek international assistance. We have enough manpower but we need
financial support ... to cope with the tragedy," Musharraf said. He said
supplies were needed "to reach out to the people in far-flung and cut-off
areas." The president spoke in Rawalpindi, a city near the capital Islamabad,
before leaving on a tour of devastated areas.
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