At the Higher Secondary School (F.Sc.) level, our English course book contained a lesson written by James Thurber about the humorous incident that took place in Ohio (an American city) on 12th March, 1913. The story was about the panic that started in the city quite abruptly. It was based on a rumour of breaking up of the dam built on the Mississippi river. As a result all the people of the city started running towards "The East" in order to save their lives. At that time we had not even thought of facing such an incident in our lives.
But almost the whole of the NWFP faced the same situation on the night between Feb, 11,12 where millions of people across the province and the adjacent tribal areas spent a sleepless night under the open sky in rain and freezing conditions because of the rumour that a major earthquake would hit the region at mid-night.
The source of these rumours could not be known. However, many of the people claimed that these were floated from the remote Karak district. Where early in the evening, announcements were made on loudspeakers of the mosques alarming the people that strong tremors would hit the area sometime in the night.
This news soon spread to the nearby districts of Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Kohat, Hangu, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and adjoining tribal areas, where announcements were also made, advising people to come out of their houses in order to save themselves from the possible disaster. This created a panic among the people who took to open places in heavily overcast conditions.
Fuel was added to the fire when the people of these districts also started making phone calls to their near and dear ones in Peshawar to inform them about the coming disaster.
When such rumours reached the capital, Peshawar, these spread to the whole province as most of the people started informing their relatives in their respective villages and hometowns of the province about the "ensuing calamity". Thus the rumour spread like a jungle fire in the whole province, forcing people to stay away from homes for whole of the night. Announcements about the possible earthquake were made on loudspeakers in almost every mosque of the province from midnight and continued till dawn.
Following the announcements from mosques, the people along with women and children came out of their houses and started assembling in parks, streets, graveyards and other open places.
Although this emergency-like situation prevailed across the whole province, the provincial capital was badly hit by these rumours. The whole city was wide awake at midnight. All the people, including women and children, started coming out of their homes and ran towards open areas.
Some terrified families also packed valuables, including gold, cash and personnel documents, and rushed towards open areas in the city. Even the sick ones were also forced to stay on roads in the chilly weather. In the panic, almost every one tried to inform his relatives, friends and neighbours on the phone or by personally visiting them but no one even thought of inquiring the authentication of the news from the concerned departments.
In a state of fear every one ran towards open areas on foot or in vehicles. Some even rushed to mosques and graveyards for seeking Allah's blessings. The people in the suburbs of the capital did not face any difficulty in taking shelter because of the availability of the open fields. However, in the populated area of the city, it was difficult to seek a "safer place".
The citizens thronged the open places, including playgrounds, public parks and schools, which they considered to be safe. Long queues of vehicles were also observed parked on main roads. Women, holding small kids in their laps, were also seen standing on the roads.
Some of them even held a copy of the Holy Qura'n reciting verses. Some of the men also rushed to the mosques for offering Nawafil in order to seek God's help in averting the possible disaster.
The rumours of a possible tremor not only touched the minds of the common people, even the educated segments also followed the hoard. The hostels of Peshawar University got evacuated at midnight and the male and female students spent a sleepless night in the playgrounds.
The elites were unintentionally forwarding the rumour of tremor to their friends and foes. But no one even thought of inquiring about the rumours from the concerned departments.
While standing along the road and waiting for the "coming disaster", people had different opinions. Some of them were terming it a sign of the "Judgement Day" as it was raining and also was the first Muharam coming on a Friday. Some one was calling it the result of our deeds. Some were lamenting the increasing vulgarity in the society and some were cursing the cable networks and dish culture. The clerics were also advising the people to offer prayers, recite Holy Qura'n to seek Allah's blessings.
The people were so terrified and worried that despite a heavy downpour and chill, they were reluctant to return to their homes. They remained tense and in the grip of fear till sunrise. With the beginning of calls (Azan) for morning prayers in the mosques, people had a sigh of relief and rushed to mosques that got packed to their capacity.
The most interesting point of the whole episode was that the announced timing of the "likely tremors" differed in all the districts. As the rumours reportedly originated in southern districts, so the reported time conflicted from that rumoured in Peshawar and northern districts.
In Karak and Lakki Marwat it was announced that the earthquake would hit between 8 pm and 10 pm. In Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan, the expected time of jolt was announced as 11 pm to 1 am while in Peshawar, it was reported that the tremor might hit the region at any time between 3 am to 5 am. The same was the case in northern parts of the province where timing frame set for the "impending tragedy" was up to 6 am.
The rumours of tremor not only hit the NWFP province but it also scared major cities of Afghanistan, including Kabul, Jalalabad and Ningarhar province. The rumours spread there after the refugees in Peshawar called on their relatives and friends on the other side of Durand Line, informing them of the likely earthquake hitting the region. In this way they were also forced to spent a chilly night in the open sky.
Looking into the situation, different factors can be cited that added to the fears of the people. As whole of the province was receiving rains for the last ten days, so the water had reached the foundations of the majority of the buildings which were vulnerable to even a mere jerk that is why majority of people preferred to remain out of their homes to avoid the "impending disaster". Secondly, the people remembered the recent devastation caused by the tsunami in South East Asian States and the already raining added to their fears of the tsunami-like earthquake. Thus the psychological effect and fear of tsunami forced them to abandon their houses.
Mohammad Rafiq, director of the Peshawar Met office, informed this scribe that so far no system is in place or any device is invented anywhere in the world to predict tremors. He sand that as the tsunami had passed recently that is why some of the miscreants, talked of a new tsunami in order to spread fear among masses. He also termed the rumours of new tsunami, baseless and misleading as the effect of the tsunami vanished after few hours.
Professor Qaiser Ali of the University of Engineering and Technology, NWFP, who has recently done his PhD in seismology (earthquakes), said that the nearest epicentre of earthquake to Peshawar is the mountain region of Hindukush" which is about 300 km away from Peshawar. So the intensity of the earthquake from this centre becomes much lower when it reaches Peshawar. Thus the threat of a major earthquake in Peshawar can be ruled out.
The most important thing, which this whole incident brought into limelight, is the absence of an effective "Crisis Management System" at different governmental levels. Neither the Federal Government, the provincial government nor the district governments were able to control the situation. The Federal Met Department did not clarify the situation as the rumours had started circulating on Friday evening. Same was the case with the civil defence authorities.
Also neither of the government TV channel nor any of the private channels aired the "news" in time for informing people. Though the PTV World aired the news in the wee hours but that was too late as the people had already spent the night under the open sky. The provincial as well as the district governments also failed to make realise their existence.
Neither of the provincial and district government functionaries was available at the moment. The administration, though aware of the facts, did not play any effective role to inform the people of the "real situation". The police, despite the presence of a wide network of wireless system, failed to calm down the people.
As in that case, each and every police station could be informed about the real situation. The loudspeakers of the mosques could also be used for removing the misunderstandings of the masses. But the whole province proved a lawless territory for the night.
Although the Chief Minister Akram khan Durrani has ordered a high-level inquiry of the incident, the report of which is yet to come, the people of the province will remember this night for the rest of their lives as " The Day The Dam Broke" in NWFP.