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| Fresh tremor rocks Kishtwar-Doda belt | | Massive damage to property, schools closed down | | Asif Iqbal Naik
Kishtwar, Aug 3: As the residents of erstwhile Doda district find to settle down after the devastating erath quake that left thousands homeless, the area was hit by another tremor measuring 5.2 on Saturday morning.
The fresh tremor jolts the area in less than 24 hours after 5.4 magnitude tremors shook the valley on Friday morning at 8.02 AM. As per the initial reports, the magnitude of the fresh earthquake is 5.9 on Richter scale and the same was later downgraded to 5.2 by Metrological department.
According to US agency LALATE, the earthquake started thirty miles below ground level. As a result the quake's impact was only in the immediate region.
The epicenter of the quake was 12 kms north-east of Kishtwar area and 78 kms south-east of Anantnag (Kashmir Valley) of Jammu and Kashmir. The USGS indicates that today's earthquake started seven miles east of Kishtwar and was twenty-four miles northeast of Doda, twenty-eight miles northeast of Bhadarwah, forty-eight miles from Anantnag and roughly two hundred miles from Pakistan. The quake lasted for 9 seconds, and was followed by two immediate aftershocks measuring 3.7 and 2.9 on the Richter scale at 4:12 AM and 3:12 AM and the same was continued throughout day today.
The people immediately came out of their residence. The fresh tremor caused massive damage to the property. The damaged property includes Boys Higher Secondary School Kishtwar, R & B offices and office of Assistant Commissioner Development Kishtwar suffered massive damages. Newly constructed District Hospital Building at Kishtwar also develops some cracks , while the ceiling of main entrance New DC Office complex Kishtwar also got damaged. The initial reports suggested that majority residential complex develops creaks and as many as 100 residential houses suffered massive damages due to fresh earthquake. The areas like Dool, Padyarana, Hullar, Bandrena, Puhie, Galhar, Chicha and other areas which are close to the epicenter traced somewhere in Galhar-Dachhan belt on Kishtwar-Gulabgard-Himachal National Highway. Jamia Masjid Kishtwar, historic Ram Mandir and Shiv Mandir of Kishtwar, Shrine of Sufi Saint Hazrat Shah Mohammad Fareed-ud-Din Baghdadi (RTA) also develops major creaks due to fresh tremor.
As per hospital authorities, two persons were brought at District Hospital Kishtwar with injuries caused due to earthquake. Among the two injured, one was identified as SSB Jawan of 48 BN namely Jished M M of Kerala, while the other one was identified as Om Prakash son of Hari Ram resident Hurna Drubeel. SSB Jawan got injured after he falls from 3rd floor of security building at District Police Line Kishtwar. He had received grave injuries in his body and develops fracture in his right arm. Another injured person Om Prakash received fatal injuries in his head and was shifted to GMC Jammu for advance treatment.
The main water supply schemes feeding Kishtwar town and its adjoining areas also suffered massive damages as a result of which the water supply in many parts of Kishtwar town and its adjoining areas having population of over one lakh has badly got effected. Senior officials of PHE department lead by Executive Engineer PHE Abdul Wahid Zarger along with other senior officers of the department have rushed to the site along with extra manpower for early restoration of pipe lines. As per the senior officials of PHE, 50% water supply in Kishtwar has been affected and it will take at least 3 days to fully restore the service. The department urged the people for cooperation and to make judicious use of water. Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar Saleem Mohammad Chowdhary, Tehsildar Kishtwar Indeerjeet Singh Parihar, Dy. SP HQ Farooq Qaiser Malik along with team of revenue officials conducted tour of various areas of Kishtwar town and its adjoining areas to access the damages cause due to earthquake.
While talking to "Early Times", Principal HSS Boys Kishtwar Javed Ahmed Kichloo informed that the main block of the school has developed major creaks and was unsafe for the children's. He said that both main blocks as well as lower block are unsafe and said that he had intimate about the damages to District administration and director school education Jammu for arranging alternative accommodation for nearly 1300 students. He said that it risky to carry on with the routine class work inside the building. He said that as precautionary measures, the school administration has decided to close the school for two days.
DC Kishtwar Saleem Mohammad Chowdhary said that it is premature to access the actual damages as reports are still awaited from many parts of the District. He said that administration is compiling the details and the same will take time before making the public, however he confirmed damages of private and government buildings. |
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