Monday, January 24, 2011

Quick Quake Shake in Pakistan

A one-day wonder.

"Major earthquake strikes Pakistan; Damage reports slow to arrive from remote area" by Associated Press / January 19, 2011

ISLAMABAD — A 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked a remote area of southwestern Pakistan early today, 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. 

Related: US Delivers Massive Missile Aid to Baluchistan 

Think that caused it?  

Also see: Missile Strike Math

U.S. troops in Baluchistan

Its epicenter was in a remote area some 200 miles southwest of the Baluchistan capital of Quetta, said chief Pakistani meteorologist Arif Mahmood. The site is not far from the Afghan border.

The town closest 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....

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. 

Kashmir another area all but forgotten.

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Also see: Earthquake in Pashtunistan

Quiet Quake in Afghanistan

And the fallout from the floods?  Completely forgotten. 

More pearls about Pakistan from my war-promoting newspaper:

"Captured and killed by operatives of Al Qaeda....  

Sigh.

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"Death toll hits 19 in Pakistan bus bombing" Associated Press / January 18, 2011

PARACHINAR, Pakistan — The death toll rose to 19 in the bombing of a minibus in a volatile part of northwestern Pakistan yesterday....   

Islamist militants frequently carry out attacks in the area against civilians and security forces.

Abdur Rasheed, Hangu police chief, said the bomb that destroyed the bus contained high explosives, and the blast was especially deadly because the bomb detonated the vehicle’s gas cylinder. Authorities initially thought the gas cylinder alone caused the explosion....

Overall, attacks in Pakistan declined nearly 20 percent last year as a result of Pakistani military operations, better surveillance by law enforcement agencies, and the death of key militants in US drone strikes.  

Did you do the math, dear readers?

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That's where the newspaper necklace broke.