KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
A powerful earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale jolted parts of Kashmir Monday snapping communication services and electricity supply.
According to Indian Meteorological Department, the epicenter was at the Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan with the depth of 190 km.
The tremor was felt powerfully in Kashmir valley where several buildings including civil secretariat sustained massive cracks. Sources said that the quake triggered extreme panic in SKIMS, Soura where hundreds of patients came down running after the earth beneath them rattled dangerously.
“I was more than what I saw in 2005,” an employee told Kashmir Life. “The whole buildings shook and patients removed their intravenous to run for their lives.”
In city centre Lal Chowk, people, horrified from the experience, pulled up their vehicles and dismounted. Scores of commuters assembled near footpaths and parks while few others burst out in tears.
Massive traffic snarls were reported just after the tremors struck. Reports said that the flyover near the Jehangir chowk also sustained “critical damage.”
Reports also came in about damage to houses in old city areas where structures shed dust following high intensity tremors. Reports added that few structures were fully damaged in Nowshera, Baramulla. Meanwhile, authorities closed down the Jammu-Srinagar highway.
