Earthquakes

Citation

(1999), "Earthquakes", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.1999.07308cac.005

Earthquakes

Earthquakes

Keywords Disasters, Geology

23 May 1998 ­ Aiquile, Bolivia

The Bolivian government said today 67 people died and 40 more were feared buried under rubble. Carlos Nava, health director of central Cochabamba province, said the number of injured totalled 140. The slow search for survivors went on through the night in Aiquile, though rescue workers were hindered by aftershocks, including one measured at 4.5 on the Richter scale around midday, today. Biting overnight temperatures of 32 deg Fahrenheit also hampered rescue operations. President Hugo Banzer said he would sign a decree today declaring Aiquile and Totora disaster zones. Civil Defence officials said the area could suffer an acute lack of potable water after being wracked by drought since the beginning of the year. Banzer said the government would funnel an initial $6 million in aid money for earthquake victims from a fund originally earmarked for problems related to the El Ni·o weather phenomenon.24 May 1998 ­ The Bolivian government said today that the death toll in a powerful earthquake that razed two colonial towns in the centre of the country had risen to 85 and could go higher. Defence Minister Fernando Kieffer told reporters that 49 bodies had been found in the town of Aiquile, 22 in nearby Totora and 14 in outlying communities as a result of the quake on Friday (22 May) while searches for further victims continued. The quake centred on Aiquile, a historic town about 250 miles south-east of the capital of La Paz. It measured 6.8 on the open-ended Richter scale and was followed on Friday and Saturday by 582 after-shocks, half a dozen of them measuring over 4 on the Richter scale. The quake destroyed 80 per cent of the buildings in Aiquile and 70 per cent in Totora, most of them adobe brick houses occupied by poor farm workers and their families. Some of the victims were killed by the aftershocks as they tried to salvage belongings from their ruined homes. At least 150 people were injured, and emergency services struggled to provide drinking water, food and beds for those made homeless by the earthquake. Neighbouring Peru's President, Alberto Fujimori, accompanied Bolivian President Hugo Banzer on a tour of the disaster zone today as aftershocks still shook the ground. Fujimori brought Peruvian rescue workers and a Russian helicopter adapted for operating in the Andean zone's high altitude of 7,300ft above sea level. Fujimori's team joined Mexican and Chilean doctors and relief workers who arrived yesterday to help look for survivors, retrieve the dead and help other survivors.26 May 1998 ­ Three strong after-shocks from Friday's (22 May) severe earthquake shook central Bolivia today. The largest registered 5.6 on the Richter scale, but no injuries or serious damages were reported. To date some 800 after-shocks have followed the earthquake.27 May 1998 ­ The death toll from last Friday's (22 May) earthquake has risen to 105, the government said today. So far 91 bodies have been found in the historic towns of Aiquile and Totora, 250 miles south-east of La Paz. Defence minister Fernando Kieffer said small outlying communities had buried another 14 victims. Kieffer told reporters that 150 people had been injured in the quake. The quake destroyed 80 per cent of the buildings in Aiquile and 70 per cent in Totora. Some residents were killed by after-shocks as they tried to salvage belongings from their ruined homes. Relief workers are struggling to provide food, drinking water and warm clothing for people left homeless by the quake and at the mercy of the elements in freezing Andean conditions 7,300 feet above sea level.

31 May 1998 ­ Northern Afghanistan

More than 5,000 people have been killed in an earthquake which struck Afghanistan yesterday, according to reports reaching the country's London embassy. "The number of casualties, according to reports I have just got, is more than 5,000 dead and more than 1,000 injured," said Abdullah Abdullah, a spokesman for the Kabul government ousted by Afghanistan's militant islamist Taleban movement. The ousted government still controls embassies, has extensive contacts to opposition forces inside the country and is recognised at the United Nations. He told BBC Radio that he feared the death toll could rise. "Our worry is about those who survived who are in a bad situation," he said, pleading for speedy international aid to help the victims. "I think a big, co-ordinated, well concentrated aid operation by the international community is needed," he said. "Unfortunately this time the extent of the damage is much more than four months ago," he said. "It is in a remote mountainous area and we expect the numbers will rise when the bodies are recovered," he added. Yesterday's quake, which measured up to 6.9 on the Richter scale, was one of several which shook the same part of Afghanistan where 4,000 people died in a February earthquake that launched an international rescue operation. Aid workers who have flown to the stricken area to assess the damage said they were aware of reports that several thousand people may have died in Takhar province. But they were sceptical of the figures until they had checked the region.31 May 1998 ­ Aid workers struggled today to reach the site of a devastating new earthquake that killed some 3,000 people in northern Afghanistan. Yesterday's quake measured 7.1 on the Richter scale and destroyed nearly 60 villages in the same remote region where at least 4,000 people died in a similar disaster in February. "Now we have confirmed information from our colleagues and other aid workers in Takhar that 3,000 people have died in yesterday's quake," Chris Teirlinck of relief agency Medecin Sans FrontiÉres said. Other agencies were sceptical of earlier claims of up to 5,000 dead by the Afghan opposition, which is waging a civil war against the purist Islamic Taleban militia. International aid workers beat hostile weather and began arriving late this afternoon in Faizabad, to the east of the epicentre of the quake. One plane belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), carrying medicine and 12 relief workers, managed to land in Faizabad after the clouds cleared. "We attempted this morning and failed to land, but the weather cleared and the second time our plane landed in Faizabad early afternoon." said ICRC spokesman Juan Martinez. "We had 12 people on board to assess the situation and 400kg of medicines with war-wounded sets," he said. Martinez said the death toll could be higher than 3,000. "It is possible, because the quake was strong. It will take a few days to confirm the casualties," he told reporters in Kabul. The ICRC would send more planes in coming days. The United Nations said a UN team had also reached Faizabad to assess damage to the three worst affected areas ­ Shar-i-Buzurg, Rustaq and Chah-ab. "It takes five days to reach Shar-i-Buzurg from the nearest town, Faizabad, by horse or donkey. There are no roads linking the region to the outside world," the UN said in a statement. "The UN is preparing to fly tents and blankets to the region to meet immediate shelter requirements. Other key needs are likely to be water and food, as well as medical supplies." Teirlinck said aid workers from parts of the afflicted Takhar province had now reached the quake-hit region. "Over 36 villages have been destroyed in Takhar province and relief workers now say that 21 villages have been destroyed in Badakhshan (province) too," he said quoting aid workers from the scene of the disaster. He said a plane belonging to the United Nations could not land in Khoja Ghar airport, south of Rustaq, because of bad weather and a muddy air strip. Relief workers said low cloud, rain and mist were hampering assessment operations in the region, which lies along the Afghan border with Tajikistan. More tremors were felt today in Takhar province, aid workers and residents said. Teirlinck said that the biggest problem now in the region was lack of medicine. "We hope to take in medicines as quickly as possible. It's badly needed to treat the wounded and the survivors. Medicine is the biggest problem but shelter is required too." Aid agencies have remained in northern Afghanistan since the February quake, trying to co-ordinate and distribute relief in an area where thousands of homes were flattened and thousands of people made homeless.1 June 1998 ­ After-shocks jolted northern Afghanistan today as a major relief effort got under way for survivors of an earthquake which killed up to 4,000. "Aftershocks which continue to shudder through the region, sometimes only minutes apart, keep people from moving back to their houses and remind a population traumatised by Saturday's (30 May) quake that another could easily strike," the UN said. The UN said aid workers converging on the remote and difficult terrain of north-eastern Afghanistan found that a growing need for ready-to-eat food, aftershocks and long-term health problems were rapidly emerging as major concerns. "In addition to fractures and bruising caused by falling buildings, there are fears that alternating sunshine and rain could increase the risk of malaria," a UN statement said. No accurate death toll has been established but aid workers said that local authorities were using a figure of 4,000, 1,000 more than previously thought, and that up to 60 villages had been reduced to rubble.2 June 1998 ­ Israel's Foreign Ministry said today it had secured approval to provide earthquake relief to Afghanistan despite the absence of official ties between the Jewish state and the central Asian Moslem country. "We sought and received permission through various channels to approve the provision of tents, medicine and blankets to Afghanistan," a foreign ministry spokesman said. The spokesman said the amount of relief Israel would provide had yet to be specified. He said Israel was seeking a route to send the disaster aid to the quake-ravaged area in north-eastern Afghanistan.2 June 1998 ­ The European Commission said today it would provide $1.65 million in relief aid to the victims of Afghanistan's 30 May earthquake. The aid, managed by the European Community's Humanitarian Office will be distributed by non-governmental organisations already present in the region, the European Union executive said in a statement.3 June 1998 ­ At least six civilians were killed and five were wounded when a large missile hit a residential area of Kabul today, residents said. The Soviet-made "Uragan" rockets with an effective range of about 45 miles, killed six people, most of them from one family, including women and children, in the Kolola Poshta area of Kabul, some distance from any military installation.3 June 1998 ­ Helicopters in a constant shuttle operation airlifted more injured from Afghanistan's devastated earthquake zone today as anxious aid workers warned of a food relief bottleneck. Aid agencies said that the three helicopters ferrying injured to clinics were unable to take food and shelter materials to the remote distant hillside hamlets destroyed by last Saturday's (30 May) tremor measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale. The United Nations has issued an urgent appeal for more helicopters and fuel to tackle the widening trail of destruction of the earthquake which killed thousands ­ some aid agencies now fear the death toll has risen to 5,000. UN officials said there were signs the United States may lend a helicopter from somewhere in central Asia. The International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN are using three helicopters capable of carrying a total of nine tonnes of supplies and people in a continuous shuttle between Faizabad and outlying areas. However, aid agencies are worried that their use to get the sick and injured to hospitals at Faizabad and elsewhere as well as to emergency field clinics is tying up a precious resource. The ICRC estimates that more than a thousand people have been hurt by falling debris and are at risk of post-disaster illnesses such as cholera and dysentery. The UN appeal was issued as the ICRC warned that the zone of devastation from the quake was 40 per cent bigger than previously thought.7 June 1998 ­ A shortage of helicopters and bad weather have put thousands of people at risk after a killer earthquake in Afghanistan, aid workers said today. They expressed fear that thousands were still in need of food and clean water a week after the quake, which measured 7.1 on the Richter scale and killed between 3,000 and 5,000 people. Adriano Kupfer, a relief delegate with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that he and other relief workers said they were worried that disease might break out because drinking water had been contaminated by landslides. Aid agencies said they have sufficient supplies in Faizabad for the victims, but a lack of effective transport had restricted delivery to the few daylight hours when the aircraft can operate. Some villagers, reached one week after the earthquake struck, said they had been reduced to eating grass and drinking from contaminated streams.8 June 1998 ­ Aid workers said today they plan to install emergency water reserves in remote villages to prevent a mass migration of earthquake victims to hard-pressed relief centres. Relief workers fear the so-called "honeypot effect" when desperate victims descend on relief centres stretching supplies and increasing the danger of outbreaks of water-borne illnesses such as cholera. The water-supply problem underlined the shortage of helicopters to get relief supplies to the stricken on hard-to-reach hilltops and mountainsides. Helicopters and donkeys are the only viable form of transport in the rugged mountain region since most of the few roads in the area were made impassable by the quake. Relief staff said two 20-tonne helicopters chartered by the USA were expected to arrive today to reinforce a fleet of three smaller aircraft solely responsible for medical evacuation and aid delivery. The weather cleared today allowing the three helicopters ­ each with the capacity to carry three tonnes ­ to shuttle between Faizabad, hub of the relief operation, and Dushanbe, the capital of neighbouring Tajikistan, to collect fuel and relief supplies. No accurate death toll from the earthquake has been established, but local authorities say that it killed between 3,000 and 5,000 people.8 June 1998 ­ Helicopters sent by the UN and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have now taken food to all 56 north Afghan villages worst hit by the 30 May killer earthquake, a UN statement said today. "A major concern now is the need to provide clean water to villages where streams have been blocked or diverted by landslides triggered by the earthquake," said the statement issued in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. Elsewhere, it said, people were drinking water polluted with mud and faeces, adding to the risks of disease outbreaks. It said British organisation Oxfam had brought in technical experts to lead efforts to unblock springs, clean up water supplies and, if necessary, transport drinking water from outside. Two more British organisations, Afghanaid and Merlin, are struggling to clear a road through to Khurdakan, north-west of the worst-hit Shar-I-Buzurg area, the statement said.