Earth-quake in Pakistan: The Saga of Human sufferings

 -BY DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL

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Fate of Islamic Pakistan has been miserably cuel, to say the least, and its  destiny is still unknown. 

Misfortunes of all sorts befall on ill-fated Pakistani nation one after another.  Political and governance tragedies complicated by foreign invasion by the USA led allies following the Sept-11 hoax are duly compounded by natural calamities. 

 Sept-26 Earth Quake

And Pakistan has been hit by a huge quake on September 26 causing havoc. A powerful earthquake has killed at least 328 people and wounded hundreds more in Pakistan's remote south-west province of Balochistan. the US Geological Survey said that the 7.7-magnitude quake struck on 26th September Tuesday afternoon at a depth of 20km (13 miles) north-east of Awaran, .Many houses were flattened and thousands of people have spent the night in the open. After the quake, an island appeared off the coast near the port of Gwadar.

Balochistan is Pakistan's largest but least populated and already troubled province. More than 300,000 people have been affected over a total of six districts - Awaran, Kech, Gwadar, Panjgur, Chaghi and Khuzdar Awaran local government official Abdul Rasheed Baluch said about 90% of houses in the district had been destroyed. Some 250 houses collapsed in the village of Dalbedi and villagers were clawing through debris for possessions. "We have lost everything, even our food is now buried under mud and water from underground channels is now undrinkable because of excessive mud in it due to the earthquake," 45-year-old farmer Noor Ahmed told the AFP.

Most people live in easily-collapsible mud homes, and many are feared to be trapped under the rubble. The army, which considers its major duty is to help the invaders and occupation forces from the USA/West with all terror techniques, said it had sent more than 200 soldiers, medical teams and tents from the regional capital Quetta. But the mountainous terrain and loss of communications is hampering the rescue operation. Helicopters have been airlifting the most seriously injured to Karachi, while others are being cared for in neighboring districts.

The quake occurred at a depth of 20km (13 miles) north-east of Awaran, the US Geological Survey said. Many houses were flattened forcing thousands of people to spend nights in the open. After the quake an island appeared off the coast near the port of Gwadar, reported to be about 200m (656ft) long, 100m wide and 20m high. Scientists have been sent to survey it as reports say that yet more islands may have emerged along Pakistan's southern coastline. Officials say such land masses have appeared before in the area, and usually disappear again over time.

Entire villages in the Balochistan district of Awaran are reported to have been flattened in the 7.7-magnitude earthquake.

Quakes Shake stability

Natural calamities like quakes have contributed badly to the destabilization of Islamic Pakistan which is being occupied and  drone attacked by the fascist Obama forces.  And maybe,  earth quake would make the foreign forces to  step up their terror attacks on  bereaved and hapless Pakistanis.  

Latest quake was so powerful it was felt as far away as India's capital, New Delhi, and Dubai. Workers in Karachi had to evacuate their offices because of the strong tremors. The region is prone to earthquakes, with at least 35 people killed in a 7.8-magnitude tremor that was centered in south-eastern Iran in April.

The region is prone to earthquakes, with at least 35 people killed in a 7.8-magnitude tremor that was centred in south-eastern Iran in April. Pakistan had its recent deadly earth quakes on April 2013, 7.8-magnitude quake in neighboring Iran causes 35 deaths and widespread damage in Balochistan; On Jan 2011, 7.2-magnitude quake in south-west, but struck deep underground so damage was minimal. On Oct 2008, 6.4-magnitude quake in Balochistan killed 300 And on Oct 2005 some 73,000 people killed in 7.6-magnitude quake in northern Pakistan and disputed Kashmir region

The affected area is vast, impoverished and sparsely-populated. Rescue teams are struggling to reach remote areas worst hit by the powerful earthquake which struck Pakistan's south-western province of Balochistan. At least 348 people died and hundreds were injured when a 7.7-magnitude quake hit the region. Survivors need more tents, food and water. Officials also say there is a lack of doctors and medical supplies. Interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told the National Assembly that there were still areas which the authorities had not been able to reach by road or by helicopter. He said huge efforts are under way but even by helicopter the quake zone is hours away from help.

Awaran district reportedly has around 300,000 residents. A local government official said about 90% of houses in the district had been destroyed. Most people live in mud homes which collapsed easily and many are feared to be trapped under the rubble. A field hospital is being established there and teams of doctors and paramedics are also on the way. The BBC's Shahzeb Jillani in Karachi says that the district worst affected by the quake, Awaran, is considered a hotbed of the separatist movement.

The authorities insist they are capable of dealing with the disaster and the government has not issued any appeals for international help. The rescue and relief effort has been led by Pakistan's official paramilitary force, the Frontier Corps, which already had thousands of soldiers deployed in the area because on behalf of USA it is fighting a long-running separatist “insurgency” by the people- Baloch nationalist rebels. The force stands accused of enforced disappearances and rights abuses in the impoverished and lawless province.

Western aid workers and international charity groups have long been discouraged from working in the province - Pakistan's largest but least populated. More than 300,000 people were affected over six districts - Awaran, Kech, Gwadar, Panjgur, Chagai and Khuzdar - Balochistan government spokesman Jan Muhammad Buledi said .

Observers embrace a rare opportunity to tread on land recently risen from the seabed

Some parts are composed of fine- to coarse-grained sand; whereas other sections appear to be solid rock

Appearance of small gas islands

Barely half an hour after they were jolted by a major earthquake, people of the Pakistani coastal town of Gwadar had another shock when they saw a new island emerge in the sea, just over a kilometre from the shore. A local journalist and his friends landed on the island on Wednesday morning to check it out and to take pictures."I stepped out, and was flabbergasted. I could see this grey, dome-shaped body in the distance, like a giant whale swimming near the surface. Hundreds of people had gathered to watch it in disbelief."

It has a rough surface, much of which is muddy and some parts are mostly made up of fine- to coarse-grained sand. One part of it is solid rock. It's an oval shaped island which is about 250ft to 300ft (76-91m) in length, and about 60 to 70ft above the water. "There were dead fish on the surface. And on one side we could hear the hissing sound of the escaping gas," he said.

Although they couldn't smell gas, they did put a match to the fissures from where it was oozing, and set it on fire. "We put the fire out in the end, but it was quite a hassle. Not even the water could kill it, unless one poured buckets over it." The story now doing the rounds in Gwadar is that a similar hill had jutted out of the sea 60 or 70 years ago, and that the elders had then named it the Zalzala Koh, or the quake hill. it was along the same coastline, which is called the Makran coast.

About 700km from east to west, the Makran coast is characterized by high seismic activity, and is home to several hills called mud volcanoes, having craters at the top from which methane gas seeps. These volcanoes are located inland, and have been there for a long time. But similar formations that emerge offshore are usually washed away by the sea. Geologists say it is part of the continuing process of continental drift, or the drift of land mass across the oceans that brought the Indian sub-continent to collide with Eurasia and created the fault-lines, some of which run through the Makran coast. The energy released by the seismic movements of these fault-lines activates inflammable gases in the seabed. The seabed near the Makran coast has vast deposits of gas hydrates, or frozen gas having a large methane content. These deposits lay compressed under a sediment bed that is 300m-800m thick. When the plates along the fault-lines move, they create heat and the expanding gas blasts through the fissures in the earth's crust, propelling the entire sea floor to the surface."

The sudden appearance of small islands or the rise of previously submerged ocean features is a recognizable occurrence after very big earthquakes. This is  a case of "liquefaction", where large volumes of previously stable sands and muds have been shaken by the quake and oozed up through the rock. The mounds produced like the one seen at Gwadar do not usually stick around long, being eroded rapidly. More permanent is the wholesale uplift of sea-floor along coasts that have experienced major tremors such as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. On that occasion, the foreshore that had been pulled downwards in the long build-up to the quake suddenly thrust back up, lifting corals clear of the water.

One of the best known mud volcanoes of the region, the Chandragup, is located just inland from this location, a little way off the Hingol river. The seismic activity in the coastal seabed has caused the gases to make conduits inland, leading to the formation of Chandragup and other mud volcanoes. Some Hindus worship volcanoes because they are fearful of their behavior. The island that popped up near Gwadar is the fourth in this region since 1945, and the third during the last 15 years. While the inland volcanoes have sat along the Makran coast for centuries, the islands appearing in the sea hardly last more than a few months.

One reason is that over a period of time, the pressure that propelled the sea floor to the surface eases up, causing the islands to subside. Another reason is that the fine-grained muddy material of the sedimentary seabed soon starts to erode due to sea action. In seven or eight months, the island is gone, and only its signature remains on the seabed.

Pakistan must now ask the  foreign invaders led by Pentagon to leave Pakistan at least now.  

Pakistan is a non-NATO ally of US imperialism and USA is a duty not to further destabilize the nation. Leave alone helping an ally like Islamabad that helped the monstrous Pentagon forces enter an Islamizing Afghanistan, not knowing that eventually USA would destabilize Pakistan as well!

What a tragic fate of Pakistan!

Obviously, President Obama has the opportunity now to wind up his terror operations in Pakistan, calling the military guys to return to the barracks of USA.

Save Pakistan!

Please!

Many people spent the night in the open air, awaiting emergency relief supplies the army says it is sending from the regional capital Quetta.