The wounds of October 08, 2005 earthquake are yet to be healed up when another powerful tremor struck Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of the country on October 26, 2015, sending waves of grief and scenes of destruction everywhere. Again it is the month of October, around 2:09pm when people were busy in their works, a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake, according to the US Geological Survey, jolted mostly upper parts of KP and tribal region.
Tremors were felt for over one minute. The quake spread panic among people and they rushed out of their homes, offices, and towering building in provincial capital Peshawar. The earthquake was centred near Jurm in northeast Afghanistan, 250 kilometres (160 miles) from Afghan capital Kabul and at a depth of 213.5 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.
The day has refreshed memories of devastating earthquake of October 08 2005 as the epicentre was just a few hundred kilometres from the site of a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck in October 2005, killing more than 75,000 people and displacing some 3.5 million more.
In the aftermaths of the earthquake, telephone lines and electricity transmission system were disrupted in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the minaret of historical Mosque Mohabat Khan in Peshawar was also damaged, roofs of houses in old Chaka Gali caved in and cracks developed in houses and buildings. Swabi Kohat, Abbottabad, Swat, Malakand, Kalam, Kidam, Manikyal and surrounding areas were also hit and landslides have made these areas inaccessible, according to reports.
Till our going to press, 186 people were reportedly killed across the country. In Peshawar, emergency was declared at all major teaching hospitals, besides District Headquarters Hospital (DHQs) across the province. KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak visited hospitals in Peshawar to oversee the arrangements for catering medical treatment to the quake victims.
Khattak cancelled leaves of all paramedical staffs across the province. Talking to media persons outside the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, he said that there was no shortage of medicines and paramedical staff at any hospital and the injured were properly being treated. Earlier, KP Minister for Health Shahram Khan Tarakai talking to reporters outside Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar said that it was quit difficult to ascertain the exact number of dead and injured as paramedic staffs and doctors were busy in providing medical treatment to the injured and relief activities were under way.
According to official list, issued by LRH Peshawar, a total of 162 injured were brought to the hospitals, while two dead bodies. Special Assistant to Chief Minister, Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, said most of the people were affected in Malakand division and tribal regions. He confirmed that more than 18 people were killed in powerful earthquake.