More than 100 killed as quake hits southwest Pakistan

Islamabad, Oct 29 (PTI) More than 100 people were
killed, scores injured and around 15,000 left homeless when a
powerful earthquake struck Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan
province early Wednesday, razing to rubble several towns and
villages in a remote and under-developed area.

The toll could rise higher as reports were still to
trickle in from the affected remote areas of the province
bordering Afghanistan.

Two temblors hit parts of Balochistan before dawn in
quick succession when people were asleep. But while the first
temblor was mild, the devastation was caused by the second
temblor, which measured 6.4 on the Richter scale.

The first temblor struck at 4:33 am and the second at
5:10 am.

The worst affected appeared to be Ziarat area where
hundreds of houses of mostly mud and timbers were destroyed in
five villages, which were hit by landslides triggered by the
quake.

People rushed out of their homes in panic in the
provincial capital Quetta as local residents fired shots in
the area and mosques used their public address systems to wake
up people who were sleeping.

Provincial Revenue Minister Zamarruk Khan said 100
people had been killed by the quake and said Ziarat and Pishin
districts, located close to the epicentre, were hit hardest by
the quake where up to 500 houses were damaged or destroyed.

Sohail-ur-Rehman, the District Coordination Officer in
Ziarat, put the number of dead in the area at 80. He said the
toll was expected to rise as many people were buried under the
debris of mud.

Three villages in Ziarat district were completely
devastated, officials said. TV channels aired footage of
collapsed houses and showed people sleeping on the roads in
Quetta and other cities despite the freezing cold.

Rescue efforts were hampered as many villages affected
by the quake are located in remote areas. The government
mobilised the army and paramilitary Frontier Corps for rescue
and relief operations.

However, rescue workers were unable to reach many
affected areas even five to six hours after the quake, TV
channels reported.

The temblor also disrupted power supply in Quetta and
several parts of Balochistan.

Army helicopters were dispatched to shift the injured
to hospital and to ferry relief supplies. National Disaster
Management Authority Chairman Lt. Gen. Farooq Ahmed Khan said
army field hospitals, tents, blankets and jackets were being
sent to the affected areas.

The Director General of the meteorological office,
Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, said the quake was "very destructive"
as its epicentre was just 10 km below the surface.

Seven aftershocks measuring between 4 and 4.3 on the
Richter scale had been recorded and the possibility of
aftershocks would remain high for another week.

The quake was also felt in Loralai, Qilla Abdullah,
Sibbi, Bolan, Mastung and Zhob.

Balochistan, considered Pakistan's most backward
province, is quake-prone. Quetta was devastated and about
30,000 people killed by a major earthquake in 1935.

In October 2005, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake devastated
northern Pakistan and Kashmir, killing around 80,000 people
and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.