A powerful earthquake has killed at least 160 people and destroyed hundreds of homes in south-west Pakistan, officials said today.
The death toll from the quake was expected to rise as reports arrived from remote areas of the affected Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan.
It struck two hours before dawn and had a preliminary magnitude of 6.4, the US Geological Survey reported.
It was 10 miles (15km) below the surface. The Paksitan meteorological department said there were two tremors, the second bigger than the first.
The worst-hit area appeared to be Ziarat, where hundreds of mostly mud and timber houses in five villages were destroyed.
The local mayor, Dilawar Khan Kakar, said hundreds of people were injured and 15,000 left homeless. Some homes were buried in a landslide triggered by the quake.
Rescuers had pulled 160 bodies from the rubble in the Zaiarat valley area, one of Baluchistan's most popular tourist spots, he told Reuters.
"There is great destruction. Not a single house is intact," he said in an interview with Express News television.
"I would like to appeal to the whole world for help. We need food, we need medicine. People need warm clothes, blankets, because it is cold here."
Emergency workers were trying to reach places high in the mountains above the valley, where many people are believed to be trapped under debris.
Sohail-ur-Rehman, another senior official, said authorities were attempting to bury the dead as quickly as possible to prevent outbreaks of disease.
"Graves are being dug with excavators ... we can't keep dead bodies in the open," he told Reuters.
Farooq Ahmed Khan, the head of a national disaster management team, told Reuters that about 300 rescue workers had reached Ziarat, which has a population of 50,000. Tents, blankets and clothing were being flown in, he said.
An Associated Press reporter said he had seen the bodies of 17 people who were killed in one collapsed house and 12 who died in another.
Survivors sat in the open, with little more than the clothes in which they had been sleeping.
In nearby Kawas, dozens of dead and injured were brought to a hospital. Mohammed Irfan, a doctor, said the hospital was unable to cope.
With roads blocked by landslides, officials said the army was airlifting troops and medical teams to villages in the quake zone. A field hospital and thousands of tents and blankets were being brought in.
Najam Maghlani, a resident of Quetta, the provincial capital, told the BBC the quake had been "the worst 40 seconds of my life".
"It was a very strong earthquake," he said. "After the first jolt, which was not very strong, there was another big one.
"When I came out, I saw very strange things. It was like there was lightning all around the city. There was no electricity, but still there was light in the sky.
"The trees were jolting and shaking. It was just like a thunderstorm."
Large parts of south Asia are seismically active because a tectonic plate known as the Indian plate is pushing north into the Eurasian plate.
Today's earthquake is the deadliest since a quake of magnitude 7.6 in Kashmir and northern Pakistan in October 2005 killed about 80,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
Officials said the area affected today, 400 miles from the capital, Islamabad, was much less densely populated.
In 1935 about 30,000 people were killed and Quetta was largely destroyed by an earthquake.
And as for the onewho fears standing in front of His Lord and restrainsthe soul from impure evil desires and lusts, verily, Paradise will be his abode [79:40-41]
And as for the onewho fears standing in front of His Lord and restrainsthe soul from impure evil desires and lusts, verily, Paradise will be his abode [79:40-41]
And as for the onewho fears standing in front of His Lord and restrainsthe soul from impure evil desires and lusts, verily, Paradise will be his abode [79:40-41]
"O Muslims! If anyone among you worshipped Ramadan, then know that Ramadan is dead. But those of you who worshipped Allah, then know that Allah lives and will never die. Indeed Allah created Ramadan and He also, in truth, created Shawaal, Dhul Qidah, Dhul Hijjah, and all the rest of the Months..."
1) If you do not go after what you want, you will never have it
2) If you don't ask, the answer will always be no.
3) If you do not step forward, you'll always be in the same place
The death toll continues to rise in southwestern Pakistan after an earthquake struck Baluchistan Province early this morning. Nearly 200 have died, and thousands have been left homeless as a result of the 6.5 magnitude quake.
“Hundreds of mud-brick houses were leveled. People were seen rummaging through the rubble, looking for survivors and belongings,” wrote one journalist.
LIFE for Relief and Development is responding to this tragedy by mobilizing all available resources from its regional headquarters in Islamabad to provide assistance to the survivors of this disaster. Food, tents, clothing, and hygiene kits are examples of what LIFE plans to provide to as many people as possible.
A fund has been set up for donors who wish to contribute to this effort. LIFE calls on all of its supporters to contribute what they can to the Pakistan Emergency Relief Fund, as the need for assistance is expected to grow with every aftershock that hits the afflicted area.
LIFE has a history of responding to natural disasters such as this. In 2005 LIFE led a major campaign to help the survivors of an earthquake in northern Pakistan, which killed 50,000 people. LIFE was also on the ground providing emergency relief in Bangladesh after Cyclone Sidr decimated parts of the country in 2006.
سُبْحَانَ اللّهِ - SubhanAllah (Glory be to Allah)
Whoever recites [the above] one Hundred times, a thousand good deeds are recorded for him or a thousand bad deeds are wiped away.Sahih Muslim; #4:2073.
Poor people. There has been a fourfold increase in earthquakes since the seventies.
Occupation: The term of control of a territory by foreign military forces: Iraq 2003-2005 Liberation:when something or someone is freed: Operation Telic 2003
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