National Disaster Management Authority Chairman Lieutenant General Mohammad Afzal at a press conference on Tuesday evening to brief the media regarding the earthquake damages said, "Right now, I can confirm the death of 10 people. Some reports have placed the figure at 17 and some at 15, but I can only confirm 10."
"Approximately 100 are injured. Some reports say 300 are injured. Some of the injured only suffered minor injuries, so if I were to count those with serious injuries, the figure is around 100," he added.
He said that three major bridges had also been damaged, along with people's residences.
He confirmed that Pakistan’s Mangla Dam was not adversely affected by the earthquake. He said that turbine operations were shut down and are currently still suspended because a lot of silt had accumulated in the water. The dam is being drained to flush the silt after which normal operations will resume.
"The water is being released in a highly regulated manner because if more than 50,000 cusecs are released in Jhelum River, flooding can occur. So a volume of less than 50,000 cusecs is being released," he assured the media.
He said that NDMA vehicles are being loaded with 200 tents, 800 blankets, 200 kitchen sets and 100 medical kits which will reach earthquake-hit areas.
According to National Seismic Monitoring Center of Islamabad, the earthquake struck at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers with its epicenter lying 5 km north of eastern city of Jhelum . The tremors lasted for 8-10 seconds but were felt strongly.
Tremors were felt in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Murree, Jhelum, Charsadda, Swat, Khyber, Abbottabad, Bajaur, Nowshera, Mansehra, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Abbottabad and many other parts of the country.
Director General (DG) of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor in a tweet said Pakistan Army Chief has directed immediate rescue operation in aid of civil administration for victims of earthquake in Kashmir. “Army troops with aviation and medical support teams dispatched,” he said.
In 2005, a 7.6 Richter-scale quake had killed more than 90,000 people and dislocated over 3.5 million, primarily in Pakistani Kashmir and Hazara Division of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
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