ISLAMABAD: At around 2am on Saturday, the residents of the capital were awoken by a 5.5 magnitude earthquake. With the massive loss of life in the 2005 earthquake still fresh in minds, Saturday’s jolts left many traumatised.

Ahmed Bilal, a resident of Khudadad Heights, a multi-storey apartment building in E-11 told Dawn that many residents evacuated the building after the first jolts.

“When my friends and I saw the walls swaying, we decided to immediately evacuate. All the people in the building seemed to be running down the flight of stairs, which seemed never ending,” he said.

Mr Bilal said his neighbours, many of whom were in sleep wear, waited outside the building for around half an hour, fearing aftershocks.

“The experience was especially traumatising for my friend Fatima Khan, who had been rescued from the rubble of Margallah Towers in 2005,” he said.

An official of Pakistan Metrological Office Shahid Mehmood told Dawn that the epicenter of the earthquake was 23 kilometres northeast of Islamabad and 14 kilometres west of Murree.

“The depth of the earthquake was 10 kilometres so it was a shallow earthquake which is why jolts were felt. However, the epicentre was in the mountains which reduced its ability to cause destruction. Soft flat earth vibrates like jelly causing massive damage, like the recent earthquake in Chile,” he said.

Responding to a question, Mr Mehmood said there can be many reasons for this earthquake.

“The Sub Continental Plate is going under the Eurasian Plate by 40mm per year which can cause the earthquakes,” he said.

The official said that two aftershocks, 2.9 on the rector scale were recorded so there is little chance of more aftershocks. Moreover it was considered to be a moderate earthquake at 5.5 magnitude.

Earthquakes from 0 to 4.9 magnitude are considered mild, from 5 to 5.9 magnitude are considered moderate and earthquake of 6 and above magnitude is considered severe Responding to another query, Mr Mehmood said the United States Geological Survey said that the magnitude of the earthquake was 5.1 because it has only one station in Kabul.

“However, we have 20 stations in the region so our estimate about the magnitude of the earthquake, cannot be wrong,” he said.

Almost 73,000 people were killed in Pakistan during an earthquake of 7.6-magnitude on October 8, 2005 which left about 3.5 million people homeless. In September 2013, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake devastated many areas in Balochistan and killed at least 370 people and 100,000 people were left without shelter.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2015

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