A powerful earthquake struck south-west Pakistan before dawn early on Wednesday, killing at least 160 people, destroying mud homes and sending survivors screaming into the streets in panic.
At least eight villages were badly hit by the 6,4-magnitude quake, police and officials said, warning that the death toll could rise as rescue workers reached villages in the remote mountainous region bordering Afghanistan.
“About 160 people have died so far,” said Khushal Khan, spokesperson for the revenue minister of gas-rich Baluchistan province, Zamarak Khan.
“The toll may go up. The dead included 29 members of the same family.”
Local residents in the region around the historic hill town of Ziarat, about 50km north of the provincial capital Quetta, told him about 6 000 people have been made homeless, he said.
Most of the victims were people in outlying villages, as mud houses were destroyed and the tremors triggered landslides of rocks and boulders while people slept in their beds.
In Quetta, witnesses said people fled screaming from their homes. Television footage showed many outside in the streets, wrapped up against the early morning chill.
Six people were killed in the nearby district of Pishin, police there said.
Mohammed Sultan, from the town of Sanjawai, said the first tremor shook him awake from his deep sleep shortly before 5am local time, before he felt a larger shockwave about 10 minutes later.
In Ziarat buildings had collapsed and communications had been cut, he said, adding: “The town looks devastated. Parts of it are badly damaged. My relatives live in Ziarat but I can’t contact them to find out how they are.”
The United States Geological Survey said the quake struck at 5.09 am and measured 6,2, later revising the magnitude to 6,4. The Pakistan Meteorological Office put it at 6,5.
The epicentre was located about 70km north of Quetta, about 185 kilometres south-east of the Afghan city of Kandahar, they added.
A Pakistani military spokesperson said 250 troops and two helicopters had been sent from Quetta to Ziarat, while an aerial assessment of the damage was under way. Immediate medical help was also dispatched.
“The destruction is heavy, people need immediate help and we are providing assistance to the affected people,” Colonel Mohammed Babar, who flew over the region, said.
Retired Lieutenant General Faruq Ahmed, chairperson of the National Disaster Management Authority, said tents, blankets and food had been sent to the area along with medical teams to treat the injured.
“Two army hospitals and three C-130 aircraft are at standby. They will be flown should there be a need,” he added.
Aftershocks were still being felt in the region throughout the morning, the Pakistan Meteorological Office said.
Ziarat is a historic hill resort famed for its juniper forests. It receives visitors from all over Pakistan in summer who come to see the holiday home of the country’s founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
Most of the casualties were from two villages built on steep ground on the outskirts of the town.
A 7,6-magnitude earthquake in north-west Pakistan and Kashmir killed 74 000 people and displaced 3,5-million in October 2005.
In 1935 a massive quake killed about 30 000 people in Quetta, which at the time was part of British-ruled India. — AFP