Pakistan 7.7 magnitude earthquake death toll up at 348

QUETTA: The death toll from a major earthquake that hit southwestern Pakistan rose to 348 on Wednesday, provincial officials said, with more fatalities feared as rescue teams reach the remote affected area.

The 7.7-magnitude quake hit part of Balochistan province on Tuesday, destroying thousands of mud-brick houses.

At least 348 people have been confirmed dead and more than 440 injured, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority and the Balochistan government’s earthquake response control room.

In the village of Dalbedi, the earthquake — Pakistan’s deadliest since the devastating Kashmir quake of 2005, which killed 73,000 — flattened some 250 houses.

Bewildered villagers dug with their hands through the rubble of their mud houses in Dalbedi to retrieve what was left of their meagre possessions.

Their simple houses destroyed, they used rags, old clothes, sheets and tree branches to shelter their families from the sun.

Farmer Noor Ahmed, 45, said the tremors lasted for two minutes and turned buildings in the village into piles of mud.

“We have lost everything, even our food is now buried under mud and water from underground channels is now undrinkable because of excessive mud in it due to the earthquake,” he told.

The death toll is expected to rise as rescue teams reach more villages in the area, which has been shaken by more than a dozen aftershocks.

Jan Muhammad Buledi, spokesman for the Baluchistan government, told that more than 300,000 people had been affected by the quake across six districts — Awaran, Kech, Gwadar, Panjgur, Chaghi and Khuzdar.

“People are still trapped under the rubble but it is a huge disaster and it will take time to reach and rescue all the people,” he said.

Teams were working to recover bodies but the priority he said was to move the injured to hospitals as soon as possible — a difficult task in a desolate area with minimal infrastructure.

“We are seriously lacking medical facilities and there is no space to treat injured people in the local hospitals,” Buledi said.

The army has rushed medical staff and troops to the devastated area to help with rescue efforts, along with seven tonnes of food and a tonne of medicine. Six helicopters are taking part in rescue work, the military said.

The scale of the territory involved is daunting. Awaran’s population is scattered over an area of more than 21,000 square kilometers (8,000 square miles).

Balochistan makes up about 45 percent of Pakistan’s area but is the country’s least populated and least developed province. On top of the difficult terrain, the area is rife with separatist and Islamist militants as well as bandits.

Tremors were felt on Tuesday as far away as New Delhi and even Dubai in the Gulf, while people in the Indian city of Ahmedabad, near the border with Pakistan, ran into the streets in panic.

Rescue Efforts

According to an ISPR presses release, rescue and relief operations continue in the earthquake affected areas of Balochistan by Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps troops.

So far 174 wounded persons have been evacuated from different areas of Awaran to District hospital Awaran by Army/Frontier Corps troops. 7,000 kilograms of food items, 1,000 kilograms medicine and 200 tents have been distributed among the earthquake affectees. Cooked food is also being provided to homeless people in Awaran.

Field Medical facility comprising 21 Doctors and 50 paramedics are providing medical treatment to those injured in Khuzdar and Awaran.

300 troops of Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps personnel were moved Tuesday night for rescue operations in earthquake affected areas and the strength has now risen to more than 1000.

Six Pakistan Army helicopters are also participating in rescue operations. So far 10 sorties have been flown to affected areas of Awaran and Khuzdar.

New Islands Surface

Tuesday’s quake caused a new island to appear close to the coastline at Gwadar, officials said, prompting astonished locals to rush to the shore to take a look.

“It looked very very strange to me and also a bit scary because suddenly a huge thing has emerged from the water,” Gwadar resident Muhammad Rustam told AFP.

The island was given the name 'Zalzala Jazeera' (earthquake island)

The National Institute of Oceanography has sent a team to survey the island, which stands about 20 meters high.

Experts said a similar small island appeared at the same place in the sea after a major quake in 1945 but disappeared after some time.

Later another island surfaced off the coastal town of Ormara in Balochistan province.

According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the new island appeared near River Basil.

In April, a 7.8-magnitude quake in southeast Iran, close to the border with Balochistan, killed 41 people and affected more than 12,000 on the Pakistan side of the border.