NEW DELHI: At least 98 persons were killed in Pakistan when a powerful earthquake rocked the country Afghanistan and several parts of northern India early Friday.
The quake measuring about 6.8 in the Richter scale jolted the people out of their beds around 0435 hours IST as buildings shook and doors and windows rattled.
While buildings developed cracks in the capital and Jammu there were no report of loss of lives in the region. A woman and her child received minor injuries in Jammu.
Pakistan TV monitored in Amritsar said 98 persons were killed in the quake and at least 101 injured. Chitral in Pakistan-Afghan border bore the brunt of the tremor’s fury with hundreds of houses collapsing in the town.
Mud houses in Afghan capital Kabul were also destroyed by the quake but there were no reports of casualties
Agency reports from Islamabad said earlier that 12 bodies were recover in and around Chitral while another 10 deaths were reported in Malakand a north western tribal districts the reports said.
In the capital the eighth floor of the all India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) developed a crack in the ceiling while part of the ceiling of a doctor flat in the hospital complex was damaged due to the minute long quake that had its epicenter 1000 km away from Delhi in the Hindu Kush range.
In Jammu over 15 old structures and tall buildings developed cracks due to the quake that had people rushing on to the streets in Panic The strong quake was also felt in several parts of Kashmir valley Himachal Pradesh Punjab and Haryana.
A Jaipur report said a mild quake was felt along the Indo-Pak border in the state.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 8, 1991
