GILGIT: An earthquake struck Gilgit-Baltistan on Wednesday evening, leaving one person dead and nine others injured, besides blocking roads and damaging houses.

According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), several areas of Gilgit-Baltistan were shaken by the 5.2 magnitude earthquake recorded at a depth of 10k near Skardu at 6.30pm.

An official of the Skardu district administration said the Roundu Valley was affected the most. He said one person was killed and nine others were injured when rocks fell on them near Astak village.

Thousands of passengers, including tourists, were stranded on both sides of Gilgit-Skardu road after it was blocked due to landslides at several points near Astak and Shangus areas of Roundu.

Two of the injured were shifted to Skardu’s regional headquarters hospital in an army helicopter on Thursday.

Locals say hundreds rendered homeless, forced to sleep in the open

Moreover, link roads and water channels were damaged, the official said, adding that the district administration had launched a rescue operation and was assessing damage. He said severed communication links with most areas were hampering efforts by rescue teams to get there and assess the damage.

According to the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), traffic was blocked on Skardu-Gilgit road due to landslides triggered by the tremors. It asked commuters not to use the road.

Local resident Bahar Shahid told Dawn that the earthquake had created a disaster in the valley, rendering scores of people homeless. He said aftershocks were still being felt. He called for immediate government action to provide relief to the affected people.

Most of the earthquake-hit villages are cut off from other areas and there is no communication with the affected people.

Locals also complained that no serious efforts were being made to provide relief in the earthquake-hit areas.

Eighteen villages in Roundu subdivision of Skardu were affected by an earthquake on Dec 29 last year. The quake destroyed more than 200 houses, damaged hundreds and injured eight people, including three children.

Hundreds of homes, roads, water channels and agricultural lands have been affected in two earthquakes over the last three months.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2022