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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Nadia Khomami

Pakistan and Afghanistan rocked by earthquake – as it happened

Amateur footage shows a landslide in Pakistan moments after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit northern Afghanistan

Afternoon summary

Here’s a summary of all the news so far:

epicentre map
  • Officials said at least 147 people were known to have been killed in Pakistan and 33 in Afghanistan. Twelve students died while trying to escape from a girls’ school in Taloqan, north-east Afghanistan, and six people died in the eastern province of Nangarhar. A police official in Badakhshan said dozens of houses were destroyed in two remote and sparsely populated rural districts, with some damage reported in Fayzabad. As night falls in the region, further reports of deaths are expected.

We’re closing the liveblog now. If you are in Afghanistan, India or Pakistan and you experienced the earthquake, you can still contact the Guardian using Whatsapp on+447867825056.

Updated

Public figures and aid workers from around the world have been tweeting about today’s tragedy.

From Indian actor Anupam Kher:

From the European commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management, Christos Stylianides:

From US Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee:

Updated

Google has launched a “person finder” since the earthquake, allowing people to search for missing persons or provide information about them.

Updated

MSF India is now tweeting that it fears landslides following days of heavy rain.

This UN map shows the effects of today’s quake.

A TV presenter in Afghanistan leaves his desk in the middle of a news bulletin as a powerful earthquake strikes. The studio in Kabul starts to shake and the presenter, who looks increasingly alarmed, gets up from his chair and leaves the studio.

TV presenter forced to leave studio as earthquake shakes set

Updated

Amateur footage, first published by ARY News, appears to show the Metro bridge in Rawalpindi, northern Pakistan, shaking as a powerful earthquake hit south Asia on Monday.

Plan International’s emergencies specialist, Naima Chohan, who lives in Islamabad, has said she felt the earthquake:

There was a big tremor in Islamabad and it lasted for a minute. The lamps and fans were shaking.

When I went outside, people were standing outside on the road. Many were too scared to go back in. They were remembering the 2005 earthquake that devastated parts of Pakistan 10 years ago and the aftershocks that followed. That’s what we are most scared of now.

Updated

Médecins Sans Frontières has said staff and patients in Pakistan were temporarily evacuated.

Slate’s Eric Holthaus cites US geological survey predictions that the quake may have killed thousands.

Rashid Javed, Plan International’s country director for Pakistan, has warned of aftershocks, saying:

After an earthquake like this, access to clean water and proper sanitation are vital. People also need to be aware of the dangers of aftershocks, especially as they are being repeatedly felt across the region.

Earthquakes can disrupt or destroy critical infrastructure and that is why it is important to invest in this infrastructure and local buildings before disaster strikes.

The earthquake has hit many rural areas, where it is essential to work in partnership with local organisations as they are the first ones to respond to a crisis like this.

Updated

Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, has been tweeting about a conversation he had with Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan. He makes reference to the 12 Afghan schoolgirls who lost their lives while trying to get out of swaying buildings.

Updated

At least 180 people killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan – reports

Pakistani officials say the death toll in their country has risen to 145, bringing the overall total to at least 180.

Inayatullah Khan, Pakistan’s rural minister, told the Associated Press the death toll in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province alone has jumped to 121.

Updated

Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif to fly home from London

The Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, is to cut short a visit to London to return to Pakistan. His daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, tweeted that her father would be leaving for Pakistan shortly.

Updated

Kabul residents assess and attempt to fix the damage caused by a powerful earthquake that has affected Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India.

Damage and destruction caused by earthquake in Afghanistan

Updated

A newsreader at Ariana TV has to leave his desk as the tremors hit Kabul.

Tremors felt in TV studio in Kabul

Updated

State-run Pakistani TV says 94 people have died in Pakistan as a result of the earthquake, bringing the region-wide toll from the disaster to 129, AP reports. Afghan officials have said 33 people have died in Afghanistan – where the earthquake was centred – including 12 schoolgirls who were trampled to death while trying to get out of swaying buildings. Another two people died in India-controlled parts of the disputed Kashmir region.

Updated

Shabbir Shah, an 18-year-old student, captured footage of a landslide in Gupis, Pakistan, moments after the 7.5-magnitude earthquake hit.

He spoke to Carmen Fishwick on the phone and via Whatsapp from Gupis, roughly 1,000km from the epicentre of the earthquake.

When the earthquake happened the mountain started falling down and buildings all around also fell. At that time everyone was on the road watching out for our deaths. We thought today was our last day. Nearby a children’s school was crying loudly. There are around 15 injured people, but I do not know of any deaths.

Now all the roads are blocked. Life is more difficult for those of us between mountains in these situations. We have no power, and I have no way of charging my mobile phone. We have no light, no petrol, no gas, no transport and no proper medical treatment. Some people are in need and need proper medical treatment. I’m at a canteen with a buddy taking a cup of tea and just waiting for the latest updates. It’s okay at the moment, but we are not feeling safe.

Landslide filmed in Pakistan

Updated

This video shows the metro bus track in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, shaking as the tremor hit.

At least 100 people killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan – reports

Reuters is now saying at least 100 people have been killed in the earthquake. These include 24 in Afghanistan and 76 in Pakistan.

The death toll could climb in coming days because communications were down in much of the rugged Hindu Kush mountain range area where the quake was centred.

Updated

Bollywood star King Mika Singh has tweeted his thoughts.

Updated

According to an Iranian news agency, Iran is ready to send aid to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Islamabad residents and office workers stand in the street after Monday’s earthquake.

Islamabad resident describes earthquake

Updated

Abdullah Abdullah, chief executive of Afghanistan, has said that the earthquake was “the strongest one felt in recent decades”. He also urged people to stay outdoors for fears of aftershocks.

Updated

In a statistical prediction on its website, the US geological survey said there is a one-third chance the number of fatalities will climb to between 100 and 1,000 people, with several million dollars’ worth of damage likely to have been caused.

Arbab Muhammad Asim, district mayor for Pakistan’s north-western city of Peshawar, said more than 100 people had been injured there alone. “Many houses and buildings have collapsed in the city,” he said.

Dr Muhammad Sadiq, head of emergency services at a government hospital in Peshawar, confirmed the number of injuries. “Many more injured are still coming to hospital. Many are still under rubble,” Sadiq told AFP.

Afghanistan’s chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, said reports of damage and injuries were coming in from the nation’s north-east. “Disaster authorities to meet within the hour and respond to the needs,” he tweeted.

Traffic came to a stop in downtown Kabul, with frightened people getting out of their cars as they waited for the quake to pass. Delhi’s metro also ground to a halt. “All of around 190 trains plying on the tracks were stopped at the time of the earthquake. The lines and the trains are now being restored after basic inspection of respective lines,” Anuj Dayal, a Delhi Metro spokesman, said.

Afghans check the damage to the walls of their home after a the earthquake in Kabul.
Afghans check the damage to the walls of their home after a the earthquake in Kabul. Photograph: Jawad Jalali/EPA

Updated

At least 70 dead in Afghanistan and Pakistan - reports

AFP is reporting the following deaths:

  • 12 schoolgirls were trampled to death in the northern Afghan province of Taloqan city. “The students rushed to escape the school building, triggering a stampede. Twelve students, all minors, were killed and 35 others were injured,” Takhar education department chief Enayat Naweed told AFP.
  • Six people were killed in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, with 69 others injured, Najeeb Kamawal, head of the local public hospital told AFP.
  • 28 people were killed in Pakistan’s northern tribal areas, 20 in the north-west, three in Gilgit-Baltistan and one in Pakistani Kashmir, various officials told AFP. Eight children were known to be among the dead in Pakistan.

Updated

Here are some more photos from Twitter which users say were taken in the aftermath of today’s earthquake.

International aid organisation CARE has said it is very concerned by the earthquake’s impact on poor and vulnerable people, particularly internally displaced people in Afghanistan. Christina Northey, CARE country director in Afghanistan, said:

Obviously the situation is going to be much worse for poor and vulnerable people, particularly those who have been displaced by the conflict. Plus winter is starting and there has been a noticeable drop in temperature over the past few days.

Updated

British experts have been providing further information and context regarding today’s earthquake. Dr Ilan Kelman, reader in risk, resilience and global health at UCL, said:

Communications appear to have gone down in the worst-affected areas, so it will be some time before we know the full impact. In the meantime, at this stage in the hours afterwards, it will be the locals rescuing people from the rubble, treating the injured, setting up temporary shelter, and catering for immediate physical and psycho-social needs. This situation illustrates the importance of local training for disaster response and of disaster education for everyone, from before kindergarten until after retirement.

David Rothery, professor of planetary geosciences at the Open University, said:

Today’s earthquake in the Hindu Kush region of north-east Afghanistan was a result of the northward collision of India with central Asia. With a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale it had the potential to be very damaging but fortunately it occurred at a depth of more than 200km [as they usually are in this area] and so the shaking of the ground surface was less than it would have been for a shallower earthquake of the same magnitude. [The Ghorka earthquake in Nepal on 25 April was magnitude 7.8 and only 8km deep].

Even so, poorly constructed homes may have been badly damaged, and in such a mountainous region landslides could have occurred.

Updated

At least 43 people killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan – reports

Reports are now coming in that 29 people have been killed in north-western Pakistan alone. Rescue official Latifir Rehman said 21 people were killed and 200 were injured in various parts of the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Another official, Fiaz Khan, said at least eight people were killed and 70 injured in the Bajur tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Updated

Here is a map of the epicentre of the earthquake.

earthquake map

The Washington Post’s Tim Craig reports that the earthquake hit a region of Pakistan that is still dealing with a snowstorm that had trapped hundreds of motorists.

Updated

At least 29 people killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan, reports say

Various hospitals and government officials are reporting death and injury rates.

On top of five people reportedly killed in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, the Associated Press reports that at least 12 students at a girls’ school died in a stampede as they tried to get out of their school in Takhar province, west of Badakahshan.

Sonatullah Taimor, spokesman for the provincial governor, said another 30 girls have been taken to hospital in the provincial capital of Taloqan.

Government officials in Pakistan have said at least 12 people were killed in the north-west of the country. Injured people were reportedly pouring into Peshawar’s Lady Reading hospital. “We received 50 injured and more are being shifted. The injured suffered multiple injuries due to building collapse,” hospital spokesman Syed Jamil Shah told Reuters.

People carry the victims to a hospital in Peshawar.
People carry the victims to a hospital in Peshawar. Photograph: Arshad Arbab/EPA

Updated

Five reported dead in Afghanistan

The head of Nangarhar provincial hospital has said five people have died in Afghanistan, with 55 people injured.

Updated

Here are some photographs and footage of what is purported to be the aftermath of the quake.

Updated

Four deaths reported in Pakistan

The full extent of the damage and the number of possible casualties is not yet known. Pakistani officials have reported four deaths, and an official in Badakhshan said there were reports of casualties and destruction.

Dr Muhammad Sadiq, head of emergency services at a government hospital in Pakistan’s northern Swat valley, told AFP that more than 100 people were injured.

Pakistani state television said at least one person died when the roof of a home collapsed in the eastern city of Kasur.

Updated

The region where the earthquake struck has a history of powerful tremors. This is a result of the Indian subcontinent driving into and under the Eurasian landmass. Such tectonic shifts can cause enormous and destructive releases of energy.

In 2005, a magnitude 7.6 quake in Pakistan-administered Kashmir killed more than 75,000 people.

In April this year, Nepal suffered its worst earthquake on record with 9,000 people killed and about 900,000 homes damaged or destroyed.

People remove debris from a rickshaw on a road following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake, in Peshawar.
People remove debris from a rickshaw on a road following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake, in Peshawar. Photograph: Arshad Arbab/EPA

Updated

The provincial director of the national disaster management authority, Abdullah Humayoon Dehqan, has said “there are reports of casualties and destruction” in some remote districts of Badakhshan.

The Associated Press reports that power was cut across much of Kabul, where tremors were felt for about 45 seconds. Houses shook, walls cracked and cars rolled in the street. Officials in the capital could not be immediately reached as telephones appeared to be cut off across the country.

In Pakistan, Zahid Rafiq, an official with the meteorological department, said the quake was felt across the country. In Islamabad, buildings shook and people poured into the streets in a panic, with many reciting verses from the Qur’an.

“I was praying when the massive earthquake rattled my home. I came out in a panic,” said Munir Anwar, a resident of Liaquat Pur in the eastern Punjab province.

The quake was also felt in the Indian capital, Delhi, though no damage was immediately reported. Office buildings swayed and workers who had just returned from lunch ran out of buildings and gathered in the street or in parking lots.

Updated

Are you in Afghanistan, India or Pakistan? Did you experience the earthquake? You can contact the Guardian using Whatsapp on +447867825056, but please stay safe.

Terms and conditions here.

The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, has tweeted about the earthquake. He said he is praying for everyone’s safety.

Updated

The US geological survey is reporting that the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.5. It struck at 9:09 am near the cities of:

  1. 45km (28mi) N of `Alaqahdari-ye Kiran wa Munjan, Afghanistan
  2. 48km (30mi) SSW of Jarm, Afghanistan
  3. 76km (47mi) S of Fayzabad, Afghanistan
  4. 77km (48mi) WSW of Ashkasham, Afghanistan
  5. 254km (158mi) NNE of Kabul, Afghanistan

Social media users are posting images of what appears to be the aftermath of the earthquake. The full extent of the damage and the number of possible casualties is not yet known.

Vineet Gahlot, director of seismology at the Indian Meteorological Department, has told the Associated Press that the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 and an epicentre deep in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan.

Pakistan state TV reported the same magnitude.

Summary

A major earthquake has struck south Asia, with tremors felt in northern Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

More than two minutes of sustained tremors were felt in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. The quake also hit the cities of Lahore, Faisalabad and the mountainous region of Chitral.

Office workers reportedly poured out of their buildings, including in the Afghan capital of Kabul where UN workers rushed outside to safety.

We’ll be publishing the latest updates on this liveblog.

Patients who were shifted outdoors at the government medical college hospital after a strong tremor was felt in Jammu, India.
Patients who were shifted outdoors at the government medical college hospital after a strong tremor was felt in Jammu, India. Photograph: Channi Anand/AP

Updated

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