Download At least 5,000 people are estimated to have died, and thousands of

At least 5,000 people are estimated to have died, and thousands of others to
have been injured in a destructive earthquake which devastated large areas of
***. This small mountainous country is prone to seismic disturbances as it lies
on a seismological fault. This tragedy proved particularly calamitous and the still
incomplete statistics speak of unprecedented damage. The high magnitude
quake measured 7.7 on the Richter scale, and was the strongest this area has
experienced in more than a century. It followed a fortnight of tremors and its
epicenter was some 150 miles southwest of ***,the ***’s capital. Three small
villages, close to the epicenter, are said to have been completely wiped out. The
quake also triggered devastating landslides which destroyed a power station,
depriving one third of the country of electricity. No aftershocks were reported.
At two in the morning, two strong quakes, thirty minutes apart, rocked the
capital, catching the inhabitants in their sleep and leaving homes badly
damaged. Those who did not immediately leave the affected area paid for it with
their lives. Hundreds of bodies lied buried under the ruins. And the death toll
mounts as rescue workers dig into the mounds of debris to find those entombed.
With half the city reduced to rubble, most of its surviving inhabitants have been
left homeless. Hardest hit with the badly constructed high-rise apartment blocks
built to pre-cast concrete *** which have sprung up in recent years. They were
the first collapse on their occupants and they are now being blamed for the high
death toll as there’re few which withstood the tremors. Many schools and
hospitals disintegrated as the earth heaved. Other buildings were gutted by fire
from ruptured gas pipes and a pall of smokes still hangs over the town. All the
structurally-damaged buildings will have to be raised. And it’s now predicted
that even after years of reconstructive work, *** will never look the same again.