Major 7.2 earthquake hits SW Pakistan

[Guest guest]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_pakistan_quake

Major 7.2 earthquake hits SW Pakistan

By ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Zarar Khan, Associated Press – 1 hr 5 mins ago

ISLAMABAD – A major 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked a remote area of

southwestern Pakistan early Wednesday, shaking many parts of the country and

causing tremors as far away as India and the United Arab Emirates.

The quake was centered in Baluchistan province, the country's most sparsely

populated area, said the United States Geological Service, occurring at 1:30

a.m. local time at a depth of some 50 miles (84 kilometers.

Its epicenter was in a remote area some 200 miles (320 kilometers) southwest of

the Baluchistan capital of Quetta, said chief Pakistani meteorologist Arif

Mahmood, not far from the Afghan border.

The closest town to the epicenter was Dalbandin, with a population around 15,000

people, and is so remote that the nearby Chagai hills were the site of

Pakistan's 1998 nuclear tests.

There was no word on damage in Dalbandin. But another town close to the

epicenter, Karan, suffered no major damage, said Fateh Bangar, Karan's deputy

commissioner. The town was some 45 miles (70 kilometers) from the epicenter, he

said.

Nasir Baluch, a police officer in Karan, said several mud houses collapsed or

were damaged in an area outside the town called Mashkil. There was no immediate

word on casualties, but the area is sparsely populated, he said.

There was no major damage in Quetta either, but the quake caused widespread

panic in the city, said residents.

Local TV reports said the quake was felt throughout several other provinces as

well. Many residents in the country's largest city, Karachi, ran out into the

streets once the quake started, said the reports.

Karachi resident Mohammad Zubair said he was watching a cricket match on TV when

his bed began to shake.

" I jumped out of bed realizing it was an earthquake, " said the 28-year-old. " My

mom started reciting verses from the Quran, and we rushed outside. "

Tremors lasting at least 20 seconds were also felt as far away as Dubai in the

United Arab Emirates and in India's capital, New Delhi.

Earthquakes often rattle the region. A magnitude 7.6 quake on Oct. 8, 2005,

killed about 80,000 people in northwestern Pakistan and Kashmir and left more

than 3 million homeless.

___

Associated Press writer Ashraf Khan contributed to this report from Karachi.

[Guest guest]

If you look on Google Maps, this quake happened right on an interesting geologic formation. I'll post a link but you can see it to the left and it goes further off to the right. Zooming in it looked like the sedimentary layers had been pushed up from below into a ridgeline and then shaved down to the original ground level.

There are also what look like some kind of flood control or water catching berms in the riverbeds.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=28.8382+63.9473(M7.2+-+SOUTHWESTERN+PAKISTAN+-+2011+January+18++20:23:26+UTC) & f=d & t=h & hl=e & ie=UTF8 & ll=28.837456,63.944893 & spn=0.186163,0.221443 & z=12

In a message dated 1/18/2011 6:15:34 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

Major 7.2 earthquake hits SW Pakistan