12 Afghan schoolgirls killed in stampede post quake
KABUL: At least a dozen schoolgirls were trampled to death in the remote northern Afghan province of Takhar, in the most horrifying tragedy to emerge so far from a quake that rocked parts of South Asia Monday, killing at least 180 people.
Bystanders rushed the dazed and terrified girls to hospital, many lying limp in the arms of their rescuers, after a deadly stampede broke out as the students tried to flee their classrooms as the quake hit.
“The students rushed to escape the school building in Taluqan city after the terrifying quake, triggering a stampede,” Takhar education department chief Enayat Naweed told AFP.
The twelve students of Bibi Hajra high school killed were all under 16.
“When the aggrieved relatives of the dead students came to collect their bodies, they were so distressed that they could not even talk to authorities to record their names,” said Hafizullah Safai, head of the Takhar health department.
The powerful 7.5 magnitude quake struck Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region and was felt across parts of South Asia, with fears the death toll could rise substantially.
Afghan officials have so far confirmed 33 fatalities in the provinces of Badakhshan, where the epicentre in located,
TURKMENISTAN KABUL PAKISTAN April 25, 2015 A 7.8 magnitude quake in Nepal kills almost 8,900 people and destroys about half a million homes. March 11, 2011: Nearly 18,900 are killed when a tsunami triggered by a massive magnitude 9.0 undersea quake slams into the northeast coast of Japan, triggering a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant. January 12, 2010: Magnitude
7.0 quake hits Haiti, leaving 250,000-300,000 dead.
May 12, 2008: A quake measuring 8.0 hits China’s southwest province of Sichuan, leaving more than 87,000 people dead. May 27, 2006: A powerful quake in Indonesia’s Yogyakarta region kills 6,000 and leaves 1.5 million homeless.
October 8, 2005: An earthquake of 7.6 kills more than 75,000 as well as in Takhar, Nagarhar and Baghlan.
Given the difficulty in accessing most of these areas because of the rugged terrain, it could be days before the full impact of the quake is known.
“Phone lines are down and communication has been cut off in many areas,” said Afghanistan’s chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, adding that the quake was the strongest in felt in recent decades. INDIA
CHINA people, the vast majority of them in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province and the PoK. Some 3.5 million are displaced. December 26, 2004: A massive undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra island triggers a tsunami which kills 220,000 in countries around the Indian Ocean.
January 26, 2001: A massive
7.7 earthquake hits the western Indian state of Gujarat, killing 25,000 people and injuring 166,000.
September 30, 1993: A 6.3-magnitude quake hits the western Indian state of Maharashtra, killing 7,601. August 20, 1988: A magnitude 6.8 quake hits eastern Nepal, killing 721 people in Nepal and at least 277 in the neighbouring Indian state of Bihar.
Officials in Nangarhar said people were trapped under debris in some districts of the volatile province, known as a hotbed for Islamic State insurgents.
“The death toll is expected to keep rising,” warned Nangyalay Yousufzai, the head of Nangarhar Red Crescent Society.
Live footage from an Afghan news broadcast filmed in Kabul showed an anchor abandoning his desk as the quake shook the cameras. AFP