SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
A powerful earthquake struck Nepal and sent tremors through northern India killing hundreds of people, toppling a 19th-century tower in the capital Kathmandu and touching off a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest. There were reports of devastation in outlying, isolated mountainous areas after the midday quake of magnitude 7.9, Nepal’s worst in 81 years, centered 50 miles (80 km) east of the second city, Pokhara. The country’s only international airport is closed and being assessed for damage, which is going to severely limit opportunities to get aid and relief supplies into the country. The ‘quake was felt across the entire region with Delhi, India, being shaken for up to a minute and at least 13 are reported dead as a result. Much of Kathmandu is made up of tightly packed habitation, poorly constructed and vulnerable to seismic activity. It sits on one of the most seismically active regions in the world, with the Himalayas being formed by the Indian tectonic plate driving under the Eurasian tectonic plate. They converge at a rate of about 4-5 centimeters a year. Casualty estimates, even with the biggest quakes, generally start off relatively small, but this was a large event close to the surface, 10-15km down which would have amplified the shaking effect. Some Pakistani cities also felt the tremors but fortunately there were no casualties reported. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered the government to immediately send four aircraft loaded with relief goods to the calamity-stricken country. The aircraft would leave for Nepal as soon as the Pakistani government receives a go ahead from Kathmandu Airport. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi dispatched a military air transporter with three tonnes of supplies and a 40-strong disaster response team to Nepal. Three more planes were to follow, carrying a mobile hospital and further relief teams. At the time of trial and trouble it is good omen that neighboring countries felt the need and dispatched the necessary thing to the trapped people.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
