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A
major earthquake struck the Hindukush
Mountains in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, on
3 March 2002 at 16:38 PM local time, killing at least 144 people
and resulting in damage to property in parts of Afghanistan and
Pakistan. It was felt in many parts of eastern Afghanistan,
northern Pakistan and northern India. It had a magnitude of
Mw=7.3 and was felt for more than 40-seconds.
The earthquake
was centred 6
kilometres E of Arghenchkha Bala (Badakhshan), India,
24.8 kilometres W of Ghowryd-e Gharami (Badakhshan),
Afghanistan,
70.9 kilometres S of Fezyabad (Badakhshan), Afghanistan,
75 kilometres NNW of Shahr-e Pari (Badakhshan), Afghanistan,
123 kilometres WNW of Chitral (N.W.F.P.), Pakistan,
143 kilometres SW of Khorog, Tajikistan,
253 kilometres NNE of Kabul (Kabol),
Afghanistan,
292 kilometres NNW of Peshawar (N.W.F.P.), Pakistan,
386 kilometres NW of Islamabad (N.C.T.),
Pakistan,
862 kilometres NW of Chandigarh (U.T.), India,
1077 kilometres NW of Connaught Place, Delhi (N.C.R.), India.
At least 144 people were killed by this earthquake in Afghanistan
and Pakistan. In Afghanistan, a landslide engulfed the village of
Zow in the district of Ruy-e Du Ab in Samangan province killing
108 people. The entire village was destroyed and later submerged
by a lake that formed after the landslide dammed the Surkenda
river. 5 deaths and 7 injuries were recorded in the district of
Jurm and 1 death in the Baharak district in Badakhshan province. 7
people were killed in Rustaq due to roof collapses. 2 deaths
occurred in the city of Samangan and 8 in a village in the
province of the same name. In the province of Bamian, 4 people
died in the Kubahar district. In the capital, Kabul, 6 people were
killed in wall collapses. 11 students were injured at a school in
Jalalabad when a staircase collapsed. In neighbouring Pakistan,
house collapses claimed the lives of 3 persons and injured 9
others. 12 people were hurt in the city of Peshawar.
Damage due to the earthquake was reported from many places in
north-eastern Afganistan. Apart from the damage mentioned above more
than 300 houses were destroyed in the district of Jurm, Badakhshan.
A landslide also partially blocked the Salang Tunnel linking
northern Afghanistan with southern areas. In Kabul, many houses were
damaged and the roofs of several structures caved in. At least 80
buildings were destroyed in the city.
Eyewitnesses said they saw a cloud of dust rising from the
vity after the quake. 80 houses were reportedly destroyed in the
city. Most of the damage was in the eastern sections of the city.
Many homes in the Baghi Ali Mardan area of Kabul were damaged
slightly. A shop in the same area was crushed by a concrete slab
that fell from a neighbouring building. The shopkeeper had a narrow
escape, as he had just left it when the shaking began and had gone
out into the street. House collapses were also reported from
Gulbahar, at the mouth of the Panjsher Valley. The quake was also
felt at Bamiyan and Mazar-e Sharif but no damage was reported from
that city.
In Pakistan, landslides blocked many roads
in the mountainous areas, but there were no casualties as a result
of the landslides. The earthquake rocked the border areas for about
90-seconds. There was slight damage in the
form of cracks in many buildings in the Chitral district. In
the Peshawar region,
mud huts collapsed at Zargarabad and a building was damaged at
Yakatoot. Cracks in buildings were reported from many parts of
Peshawar. Everyone ran outdoors and automobile drivers stopped on
feeling the earthquake. Tremors were also felt in the neighbouring
districts of Charsadda, Mardan and Parachinar. At
Islamabad, the shock was felt severely by everyone, and
windows in a few buildings at Zero Point cracked.
The shaking was so violent that people in
moving vehicles felt the shock and many drivers stopped on Muree
Street. People outdoors also felt the shaking and stood still as the
ground shook. At Okhara, three buildings on
Deepalpur Road developed cracks. At Lahore, the
quake lasted 2 and a half minutes and
drove many people out onto the streets. It was felt for a similar
duration in many locations in the Punjab.
Severe tremors were felt at Faisalabad, Multan, Jhelum, Rawalpindi,
Quetta and Vehari as well as at Gilgit and
Muzaffarabad in P.O.K.
Strong tremors shook Jammu & Kashmir
in India, sending
many people outdoors and rattling windows. It was
felt strongly at
Baramulla, Sopor and in the Kashmir Valley. Trees and
electric poles were seen shaking due to the earthquake which lasted
90-seconds in the state.
Several window panes were broken in
Srinagar. Many buildings developed cracks
in the state. It was also strong at Mussourie in
Uttaranchal. Tremors were also felt at Bathinda, Jallandhar,
Ludhiana and Pagwara in Punjab,
at Amballa in Haryana, at Chandigarh and
at New Delhi. Light tremors were experienced
at Ajmer, Bikaner, Chittaurgarh, Jaipur, Kota and Shekhavati in
Rajasthan, India.
The earthquake was felt in much central
Asia. At Dushanbe, Tajikistan, the shaking was strong and
free-standing objects such as trees, were seen shaking. Objects were
knocked from shelves and there were cracks in buildings. Tremors
were reported from Andijon, Karshi, Namangan,
Samarkhand and Tashkent in
Uzbekistan, at Batken, Bishkek, Osh and
Sufi-Kurgan in Kyrgyzstan, at Shymkent, Taraz and Zhambyl in
Kazakhstan. In the western Chinese provinces of Xinjiang tremors
were felt in the Kashi prefecture. A 50-yard fissure developed in
the Xiker reservoir and flooded 12 villages downstream, resulting in
damage worth $9,70,000. |
