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QUETTA: A fresh earthquake struck the quake-hit areas of Balochistan again, killing at least 22 people in the already devastated Awaran district on Saturday.
“The 7.2 magnitude earthquake razed an entire village in the Mashkay tehsil,” said Deputy Commissioner Awaran Abdul Rasheed Baloch while talking to The News. Some 20,000 villagers of Nokjoh were left under the open sky, he added.
The magnitude of Saturday’s earthquake was 7.2 on the Richter scale at 12:34pm. According to officials at the Seismic observation centre, the epicentre of this earthquake was 150 km southwest of Khuzdar. It was the same spot from where Tuesday’s fatal tremors originated hitting several parts of Balochistan and Sindh.
The earthquake sent a wave of panic amongst the people of these areas who had not yet fully recovered from the shocks of the devastation of Tuesday’s earthquake. So far 16 aftershocks of Tuesday’s tremors have been recorded. However, officials of the seismic observatory centre said Saturday’s tremor was not an aftershock and was an independent earthquake.
Reports reaching here from Nokjoh village of Awaran suggested that nearly all the mud houses were razed to the ground following the fresh quake. The road connecting Mashkay to Nokjoh was also damaged.
Reports from Kharan, Mastung, Khuzdar, Awaran, Panjgur, Chaghai, Pishin, Naseerabad, Jafarabad and other districts of the province said that the tremors were also felts there and people rushed out of their homes and workplaces in sheer panic.
Meanwhile, the rescue and relief operation continued on Saturday for the fourth consecutive day. The administration transported more tents, blankets, medicines and foodstuff to the affected areas to provide assistance to the earthquake affectees.
Officials of the Balochistan government said that it had delivered more than 12,000 tents to survivors, and that several medical teams are now operating in the area. Hundreds of patients, who were injured in the earthquakes, were being provided medical treatment in Awaran hospitals.
Officials said that army helicopters continued to be engaged in the relief operation dispatching the relief goods to the quake-affected parts of the province. The Frontier Corps is also heavily engaged in the relief operation, and a sources in the FC informed that relief goods including tents and blankets were being distributed among quake-affected people. However, the rescue efforts have been hampered both by the remoteness of the area, and by attacks allegedly carried out by militants against convoys of the security forces carrying the aid.
AFP adds from Awaran: “The death toll is increasing. Rescue workers have so far recovered 22 dead bodies,” Hari Fal, the top government official in Khuzdar town told AFP, adding that more than 50 people have been wounded.
Officials fear the toll in Saturday’s quake in Awaran, the poorest district in Balochistan, could rise further.
The new quake struck the remote district at a depth of 14 kilometres according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Although USGS said it was an aftershock of the Tuesday 7.7-magnitude quake, an official at the National Seismic Centre of Pakistan classified it as a new earthquake.
“It was not an aftershock, it was an independent earthquake,” Zahid Rafi, the centre’s director, told Geo TV.
“This new earthquake destroyed all that remains of the first quake, two villages destroyed completely,” said Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Malik.
Officials said villagers were digging through newly created debris and that dozens of wounded people have been taken to a make-shift hospital in Mashkay.
“The condition of some the injured was critical,” doctor Asif Anwar told AFP from the makeshift hospital.
Deputy Commissioner of Awaran, Abdul Rasheed Baloch told Geo TV that “a lot of people have been trapped under the rubble” in Mashkay village.
“The telephone system has been damaged and we are not able to talk to someone and find out the exact information about the losses... But we have reports of severe losses in that area,” Baloch said.
Even before the latest quake struck, local officials said some 30,000 survivors were still waiting for aid.
CM Abdul Malik told AFP that food and other rescue items would be distributed through local villagers.
He appealed to the local militant groups to allow rescue officials to reach the survivors.
“It is a humanitarian tragedy and I appeal to them to allow rescue workers to help the survivors,” Malik told AFP.
Manan Baloch, a leader of the Balochistan National Movement, allied to the Balochistan Liberation Front, told AFP that his group will only allow private NGOs and local officials to help survivors.
“We will not allow the army or FC here, only NGOs or local officials are allowed to come here,” he said.
A Pakistan Army officer in Awaran told AFP the military only wanted to help the locals.
“They are not ready to accept us,” he said on condition of anonymity.
An AFP reporter in Awaran on Saturday said aid workers along with trucks loaded with food, clothes and medicine were seen moving towards Mashkey.
Reuters adds from Awaran: The death toll from Tuesday’s earthquake has reached 515, Balochistan Chief Secretary Babar Yaqoob said.
Bodies are still being discovered in houses whose mud walls and wooden roof beams had collapsed.
“My daughter was killed when my house collapsed - I was also inside my house but manage to run out,” said 70-year-old Gul Jan. “We are sitting under the scorching sun and need shelter.”
In Labash village near Awaran, more than half of the 3,000 houses have collapsed and those still standing have wide cracks.
“There is a law and order situation here and other hurdles but despite everything, we will get to every last person,” said Lt Gen Nasir Janjua, the highest ranking military official in the province. Aid must travel by pitted roads that cut through mountains held by the insurgents.
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