National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lt Gen Mohammad Afzal held a press conference detailing the damages and ongoing rescue operations in the wake of a 5.8-magnitude earthquake which hit the northern parts of the country on Tuesday.
“As of now, I can confirm the death of 10 people. I am aware that there are varying reports that are placing the death toll figure between 15 and 17, but I can only confirm 10 while approximately 100 persons are injured. Some reports say 300 are injured. However, some of the injured suffered minor injuries only, so if I were to count those with serious injuries, the figure is around 100,” he revealed.
“In Mirpur, besides the city, a small qasba Jatla, and two small villages Manda and Afzalpur were among the areas hit the worst,” the NDMA chairman added.
He said that the earthquake had inflicted the most damage on infrastructure belonging to both the government and the public.
Some of the damaged infrastructures include the main road going from Mangla to Jatla, as well as three major bridges and private residences in the same area. A few remote villages in Bhimber also reported repairable structural damage.
“There will be a proper damage assessment over the next 2-4 days,” Lt Gen Mohammad Afzal added.
Meanwhile, NDMA officers as well as Pakistan’s armed forces including ground troops which have engineer corps and their equipment, have been dispatched to the affected areas and have either reached or are about to reach.
“At this moment, the district administration teams, State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) teams and our teams are already present in the disaster-struck areas,” the NDMA chairman said while adding that he would visit those areas on Wednesday morning himself for a detailed tour after which he could brief the media further regarding the situation.
Further, he told the media that steps to prevent any loss in case of any unforeseen circumstances have also been taken.
“I was a bit worried about rains anticipated in the northern parts of the country over the next two days. My main concern was that if rains do occur, no one should be without a roof over their head. For that, we will make sure these tents and blankets not only reach tonight but are distributed further tomorrow so that in the event of rains, no one is without shelter,” he said.
He said that PDMA Punjab had also contributed to the relief efforts by volunteering 20 ambulances, medical teams, and six rescue vehicles along with a team of 100 rescue officials.
“Pakistan Army’s search and rescue team is already on its way. Forces from the Jhelum and Mangla cantonments have begun to arrive,” he added as he concluded with the assurance that a plan will be chalked out for rehabilitation, recovery and restoration of normalcy in all the affected areas.
