Under the mathematical assumption that one ounce of TNT exploded below ground yields 640 million ergs of seismic wave energy, then a slightly weaker 7.5 earthquake would be equivalent to 160 million tons of TNT. Please note that the Richter scale denotes seismic activity and not physical damage.
I've only heard of one damaged section in Islamabad, F-10. Inside this 1 square kilometer area, only one building, and only part of this building, collapsed. The media attention in Islamabad has flocked to this site - as I did also.
One section of a residential building called Margala Towers fell, but cracks can be visibly seen from the street between the other sections of this building. The scene was well under control of the police, military, Red Crescent, UN, and other agencies like the FWO by the time I arrived there I and experienced the secondary wave of a 5.1 earthquake around 3:50pm - which is more than 100x less intense for non-Richter scale fans.
[Click on picture for more of my photos taken this afternoon]
I am obvious trying to mitigate the panic created by the media, and, yes, the death tolls scare anyone that sees them. They scare me. However, I am fine. My house is fine. [That's for my friends and family]. The school (ISOI) is still standing like 99% of Islamabad. [I won't try to speak for the rest of South Asia].
As for Margala Towers, we know that our elementary school secretary got out of the building in time, but lost all her possessions. Other individuals in this 12-story(?) building lost much more and we'll all hear of these stories - and stories from other regions of South Asia that were equally unequipped - in the following days.
Hurricane Katrina and Rita, and now this South Asia quake. Anecdotal evidence makes me wonder whether natural disasters are on the rise all around.
BBC News
New York Times
USGS: Pakistan
The News: Earthquake Focus (Pakstani newspaper)
CNN International
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An unsubstantiated comment [read: rumor] from an individual on the street was that this particular building raised controversy in 1990 for lacking the engineering to sustain earthquakes. The same individual went on to say that a number of people chose to leave the building at this time. Should the building have already been condemned if this story is true? Take these comments with a grain of salt.
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****Update****
1:31pm on October 9, 2005 - I felt another wave confirmed by a wavering TV cord in the distance, as I'm trying to update the above websites of information.
Here's another blog to check out which is exclusively focused on this earthquake.
1 comment:
I heard about the quake early saturday morning on my way to a lakehouse where I had no TV, internet, or radio. I'm glad to hear that you, as well as everyone you know is okay. I'll be checking around for updates. I haven't been able to look much into this disaster, for I just got home about 15 minutes ago, but from what you've said, and the little bit that I have heard on the news, it sounds pretty bad. I wonder will tragedy will hit next..
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