Low intensity aftershocks to continue for couple of months: DG Met office

ISLAMABAD: Director General Meteorological Department Chaudhry Qamaruzaman Friday said that October 8 earthquake catastrophe was worst in the history of the region both in losses caused to human lives as well as material but the courage, spirit and flow of relief from entire nation and international community would be written in the golden words.

He said aftershocks in the affected areas could continue for a couple of months. However, these aftershocks will be of low intensity.

He observed this while addressing a Rehabilitation Conference here organised by a local newspaper. He said aftershocks in Azad Kashmir and NWFP are still being felt and these could continue for some time. But at the end of November the intensity of these aftershocks could reduce, he mentioned.

MET Office Director said that the destruction caused by October 8 earthquake was mainly because it was shallow earthquake as the energy released from the epicenter was only 70 kilometers in the depth of the earth.

He also said that the power generated by October 8 earthquake was far greater then the Atomic Bomb blast in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in second World War by the United States.

Recalling few of the major earthquakes in sub-continent, he said besides October 8 earthquake the region only saw major quakes in Quetta 1935, Pasni 1945 and Kangra (India in 1905).

He said if we calculate this data we can say October 8 earthquake came after 100 years in Azad Kashmir.

Chaudhry Qamar said that aftershocks after Quetta earthquake in 1935 continued for almost six months.

He also said that a quake of 8.6 intensity at the Richter Scale could hit areas ranging from Kashmir to Asam (India) and Burma could come, however we cannot predict when this will happen, as earthquake could not be predicted.

But according to theory after 7.6 intensity earthquake, another major quake could not come in short span of time, he underlined. The incident could even occur in centuries, he mentioned.

He also mentioned that more seismic centres will be established in Pakistan to monitor the seismic activity in the region. We are planning to set up 15 Seismic Centres in the country, besides this 8 to 10 Seismic Centres will be established in Muzaffarabad.

He also said the major factor behind massive losses was not earthquake but the poorly constructed buildings, which collapsed in high intensity earthquake.

He also said that Muzaffarabad should not be shifted to another location.

DG Met Office also mentioned that President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz were informed about the losses of killer earthquake within twenty minutes after the incident.