QUETTA: The earthquake of 7.2 magnitude which rocked large parts of Balochistan after Tuesday midnight damaged at least 200 mud-houses in Dalbandin but caused no casualties.
“Only a woman patient suffered a heart attack when the quake struck Quetta and later died. Four people suffered light injuries in Dalbandin when roofs of their houses collapsed, an official said.
“Most of the mud-wall houses were damaged in and on the outskirts of Dalbandin town,” Deputy Commissioner of Chaghai district Dr Saeed Jamali told Dawn by phone. He said the villages of Killi Qasim Khan, Killi Khuda Bakhsh, Killi Baz Mohammad, Killi Daudabad, Chater and Yakmach were affected. A number of government offices were damaged.
“Walls of the deputy commissioner’s house, tehsil office, Levies police station and other offices were damaged,” Mr Jamali said.
He said that many people did not want to return to their damaged homes because of fears of aftershocks. “We have requested the departments concerned to send tents, blankets, food packets and other items of daily use for the affected families,” Mr Jamali said, adding that the local administration was providing maximum help to the people.
“I feel bad that my home has been damaged, but I am happy that we did not suffer any loss of life,” said Ali Dost, a resident of Dalbandin.
Some houses in Kalat and Surab were also damaged.
However, the situation in Kharan, which is close to the epicentre of the quake, was different and no damage was reported from any part of the town, except some cracks in walls.
In Quetta, people aware of the devastation caused by the 1935 earthquake in the area, spent the entire night outside their homes in freezing minus-seven degree cold.
“We cannot put our lives at risk as aftershocks are shaking the earth,” 50-year-old Mohammad Amaz told this correspondent.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani held a meeting with the chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority in Islamabad on Wednesday and asked him to arrange relief goods for affected areas of Balochistan and remain on alert to meet any emergency.
An NDMA spokesman said that necessary relief goods, including food, tents, medicines and blankets, had been rushed to affected areas through two C-130 aircraft of PAF.
The Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Army are on high alert and two air missions are assessing needs in quake-hit areas. In addition, a Bell and MI-17 helicopters of the Pakistan Army and a Cessna aircraft are in Quetta with three medical teams to be deployed on short notice.
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, who was in Islamabad, directed the Provincial Disaster Management Authority to immediately dispatch relief goods for the affected people in Dalbandin.
He directed all deputy commissioners of Balochistan to conduct a survey to assess losses caused by the quake.
The Governor of Tabuk province of Saudi Arabia, Prince Fahad Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, who was in a desert area of Dalbandin when the earthquake hit the region, is safe. The prince is in the area for hunting houbara bustard.
“Prince Fahad Bin Sultan and people of his entourage are safe, Chaghai Deputy Commissioner Dr Saeed Jamali told Dawn, adding that the Saudi prince was in his saloon when the earthquake jolted the area.He said the Saudi governor and his entourage had now moved to Nokundi area.
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