Saeed Haider
Saudi Gazette
DAMMAM — The earthquake that shook Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India created panic in Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia where thousands of Subcontinent expatriates jammed the telephone network to enquire about the welfare of their family members back home.
The panic was so intense that in some parts of Dubai, Oman and Saudi Arabia rumor started spreading about minor tremors felt in these countries also.
Saudi Gazette office in Dammam received more than a dozen calls from readers seeking confirmation of these rumors. Some of the readers were so sure that they said they felt a little jolt in the afternoon.
The Presidency of Metrology and Environment (PME) in Dammam, which said that seismology does not fall under its purview, denied that tremors were felt in any part of the Gulf region.
A powerful earthquake struck a remote area of Afghanistan on Monday, shaking the capital Kabul and killing at least 24 people while 76 were killed in neighboring Pakistan. The death toll could climb in coming days because communications were down in much of the rugged Hindu Kush mountain range area where the quake was centered.
Reports of deaths had poured in from different areas of both countries by nightfall.
In one of the worst incidents, at least 12 girls were killed in a stampede to get out of their school in the northeastern Afghan province of Takhar.
Phone lines in the affected areas were down making it difficult for expatriates in Saudi Arabia to talk to their relatives.
Abdul Majeed of Daryaganj in Delhi, who works in an IT firm in Al-Khobar, was concerned for his family.
“In this year’s April earthquake, which devastated Nepal, we saw some cracks in our house, which is more than 125 years old. I am worried,” Majeed said, who finally got through to his family on the phone line.
Zeba Mazhar’s two sons work in NCR (National Capital Region) and her daughter is studying in Jamia Milia Islamia in New Delhi. For several minutes after the quake she could not connect any of her children as all lines were reporting “out of reach.”
“Those few minutes were agonizing. In April, I experienced earthquake for the first time in my life in Delhi. I know how dreadful it is,” she said.
Mohammad Subhan of Srinagar was trying till late in the afternoon to contact his family but in vain.
Mohammad Ali Shah of Peshawar was also worried.
“I have seen the worst a decade ago and I hope it is not the repeat of 2005,” he said.
