A frightened woman jumped from the window on the first floor of a multi-storey apartment in F-10 Markaz, as the building shook during the earthquake. She broke both her legs and was shifted to the hospital.
The magnitude 7.5 quake, centered in the province of Badakhshan in the Hindu Kush mountain range of Afghanistan, instantly caused panic among the residents of Islamabad. Some people Pakistan Today spoke to following the tremors recounted their moments of fear.
Shahzed, an office manager said, “I was sitting in my office, as I felt the first tremor I rushed all my staff outside. Most of us forgot our phones in the rush.”
“The women were crying and shouting. The men were sweating a lot though the weather is really pleasant.” said Basit Khan, an employee at a private office. He added that he kept reciting Kalma Tayyaba “because the tremors seemed never-ending”.
People called their loved ones up as soon as tremors weakened. But the signals went out due to many towers falling.
Huma, a housewife said “I was grocery shopping. I left all the items and ran to the car, I tried calling my kids but the signals went out too. It was a chaos. Thank God we are all ok.”
Hooriya, a student said she was watching TV when the monitor started shaking. “I thought it was one of my siblings. But then we realized that it was quake and my maid rushed us to the garden. My heart is still beating really hard.”
The social media was taken by storm after the tremors ended.
People took on to Twitter and Facebook to tell their loved ones that they are all fine, as the networks where down.
Facebooks “I am safe” app was also quite helpful in the process.