More than
one thousand people are feared dead in a massive earthquake, whose
epicentre was in South Asia’s Kashmir Valley. Tremors from the quake
measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale were felt as far away as
Afghanistan and the central states of India, over a thousand
kilometres away and in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
People across the region watched in shock as buildings swayed – just
moments after they had fled outdoors following the initial tremors.
Televisions showed images of lamp posts swinging from one side of
the screen to the other.
In Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital city, panic-stricken residents fled
their homes and watched in horror as buildings shook and walls
swayed for about a minute just before 9am local time. Initial
reports said that more than 75 apartments were damaged. The worst of
these was the Margalla Towers residential complex, in the heart of
the city, which collapsed trapping an estimated 80 people under the
rubble.