North India badly jolted, people press panic button
27 Oct 2015 5:44 AM IST
Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif and offered India’s help.
Hundreds of thousands of people fled out of their houses and offices in Delhi and adjoining areas as well as in parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. There were no reports of casualties but there was major damage to property in Kashmir.
The tremors, around 2.40 p.m., were distinctly felt for 30-40 seconds, shaking high-rise buildings across north India. The epicentre of the quake lay in Jarm in Afghanistan, 256 km northeast of Kabul.
Most multi-storey public and private buildings in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, suffered huge cracks. Dozens of houses and school buildings collapsed in southern and central parts of the Kashmir Valley, officials and residents said.
Traffic came to a halt as vehicles started swinging on shaking roads in the valley. A traffic flyover in Srinagar developed cracks.
Prime Minister Modi said India was ready to help Kabul and Islamabad.
“Heard about strong earthquake in Afghanistan-Pakistan region whose tremors have been felt in parts of India. I pray for everyone’s safety,” he tweeted. “We stand ready for assistance where required, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
Modi followed it up with telephonic conversations with President Ghani, who briefed him about the deaths and destruction in Afghanistan. Modi also spoke to Sharif and offered “all possible assistance”
to Pakistan.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked people not to panic and said disaster management teams had been activated.
As the tremors began, Delhi Metro immediately halted its services all across the capital and in the neighbouring regions of Gurgaon in Haryana and Noida in Uttar Pradesh. Jaipur Metro followed suit.
A Delhi Metro spokesman said that the services were resumed after officials did a quick check for possible damage to infrastructure and rail tracks.
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