Earthquake news for cities in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan
October 9, 2005
A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake near the Pakistan-India border Saturday killed more than 20,000 people.
The quake was centered in forested mountains of Pakistani Kashmir, near the Indian border, and violently shook parts of northern Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.
About 19,400 people were killed and more than 42,000 hurt in Pakistan, said Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, with the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir and its capital Muzaffarabad worst hit.
But the communications minister for Pakistani Kashmir, Tariq Farooq, said the toll there alone could reach 30,000 as the focus so far had been only on the main towns, not mountain villages.
In Muzaffarabad, most houses, government buildings and shops had collapsed and frightened residents spent a chilly night camped in fields, parks, graveyards and cars.
Another 558 people died in the Indian side of Kashmir, where many mud and stone houses were buried by landslides.
USGS reported at least five aftershocks in Pakistan, with the strongest measuring magnitude 6.3 and located about 70 miles north of Islamabad.
Maj. Richard McNorton, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said there were no reports of quake-related injuries among the more than 18,000 American forces in Afghanistan.
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