Alert: Pakistan Issues Disastrous Earthquake and Tsunami Warning

The Pakistan Meteorological Department’s (PMD) National Seismic Monitoring Center (NSMC) has said that a strong earthquake in the Makran subduction zone near the coast of Karachi could trigger a tsunami.Advertisement

The statement came after an earthquake that hit Gwadar and surrounding areas on Tuesday night with its epicenter 50 km south of Gwadar at a depth of 25 km in the Makran subduction zone.

“After a long time an earthquake of this magnitude has been reported in the Makran subduction zone and was felt from Gwadar to Ormara,” an official said.

The Director of the PMD’s National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC), Amir Haider Khan, told The News that the threat of a tsunami is looming over the coastal areas of Sindh and Makran. He added that the Makran subduction zone is “like a nuclear weapon” present in the sea and “can explode at any time.”

A devastating tsunami caused by a strong earthquake­ in the coastal areas of Sindh and Makran had killed at least 4,000 people in 1945.

The official warned that after 1945, the subduction zone has become active again now. It has completed its natural time scale, and can explode anytime, he said.Advertisement

The NTWC Director said that Gwadar and Makran would be largely affected in case an earthquake triggers a tsunami in the Arabian Sea.

“The tsunami could also hit Karachi in a very short time,” he warned.