Saturday, October 08, 2005
Violent Quake hits Pakistan
A powerful earthquake measuring a whopping 7.6 on the richter scale has hit Pakistan today. A country which is not used to such earthquakes and where the majority of the population is poor, was bound to suffer heavy losses as a result. While an apartment block in Islamabad grabbed all the media attention, the real damage was done in Azad Kashmir where according to reports entire villages have been "wiped out" and as much as 80% of Muzaffarabad has been destroyed. Particularly disturbing were the stories of deaths of schoolchildren, scores of them, as many as 400 in a single school! The tragedy is well and truly beyond comprehension.
I remember seeing a documentary on the National Geographic channel an year or two ago about the formation of the Himalayas. The sub-continental region comprising India and Pakistan used to be a separate continent till it joined up with mainland ASIA thus creating the Himalayas and the other mountain ranges. What it also did was to create extraordinary pressure under the earth's crust, which is released from time to time in the form of quakes. Scientists on that program said the region was due to get "severe" quakes in the coming decades, which sadly was found to be true today.
BBC's website also carries a similiar article on this titled S Asia's deadly Himalayan fault.
Our thoughts and grievances are with the people affected by this disaster. May God give them the courage to live through such treacherous times. Amen.
I remember seeing a documentary on the National Geographic channel an year or two ago about the formation of the Himalayas. The sub-continental region comprising India and Pakistan used to be a separate continent till it joined up with mainland ASIA thus creating the Himalayas and the other mountain ranges. What it also did was to create extraordinary pressure under the earth's crust, which is released from time to time in the form of quakes. Scientists on that program said the region was due to get "severe" quakes in the coming decades, which sadly was found to be true today.
BBC's website also carries a similiar article on this titled S Asia's deadly Himalayan fault.
Our thoughts and grievances are with the people affected by this disaster. May God give them the courage to live through such treacherous times. Amen.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Tension++
The tension levels got a whole lot higher when the clock struck midnight on September 30th, we had entered the foresaken month of the exams! yikes! Exams at NED seem to last forever... and Eid holidays don't exactly help either. It'll be ages before I breath the free air again, after December 12th to be specific (dang!). This way of taking exams makes me sick really, its
like an open invitation to everyone to feel 'tension-free' the entire year and start caring only in the last month or two ... and this happens year after year.
Nevertheless, as one of my friends told me here to Break The Chain, or Don't Complain! so i'll be keeping my trap shut for now. Wish me luck, need it now more than ever.
like an open invitation to everyone to feel 'tension-free' the entire year and start caring only in the last month or two ... and this happens year after year.
Nevertheless, as one of my friends told me here to Break The Chain, or Don't Complain! so i'll be keeping my trap shut for now. Wish me luck, need it now more than ever.
