328 killed, over 500 injured in earthquake hit south Pakistan

At least 328 people were killed and over 500 others injured up till Wednesday in a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province on Tuesday afternoon, officials said. In a telephone interview with Xinhua, Jan Muhammad Buledi, spokesperson for Balochistan government, said that Awaran district of the province, the epicenter of the earthquake, was the worst- hit area where 260 people were killed, over 300 injured and hundreds of houses leveled to ground. Kech district of the province was also badly affected where 43 people were killed and several others injured and hundreds of mud houses razed to ground. The strong tremors also played havoc in Mashkai town where 25 people were killed, tens injured and dozens of houses destroyed, said the spokesperson. "All the people from the urban areas has been pulled out of the rubbles by the rescue teams, however, death toll may further rise as there are many affected people in the far flung areas of the province where rescue teams couldn't even reach yet due to disruption in road traffic due to earthquake," he said. Buledi said that the rescue operation jointly carried out by government, military, and non-government organizations, may take two to three days to complete. Awaran, which lies about some 645 km away from Balochistan's capital Quetta, is home to 300,000 people and is among one of the country's least-developed districts where health, medical and other facilities are not easily available. Rasheed Gadozai, deputy commissioner of Awaran, told local media that an estimated 280,00 people have been affected in Awaran, while losses in some of the district's far-flung areas are yet to be determined as rescue teams couldn't reach there yet. He said about 40 percent to 50 percent houses in urban area and 90 percent houses in rural areas leveled to ground. The Balochistan government has declared emergency in the six quake-hit districts. The provincial government kicked off rescue operation in the area and announced it will allocate a budget of about 1.6 million US dollars for immediate rescue and relief of the affected people. The government dispatched two trucks carrying food for the affected people. District Commissioner Awaran sought help from army and government for the affected people as the district administration doesn't have adequate facilities to provide relief to the affected people. Pakistan army sent 1,600 troops to the worst hit areas of Khuzdar and Awaran, and shifted 174 people to hospitals after recovering them from the debris of collapsed houses. Inter Services Public Relations, the mouthpiece of Pakistan army, said that they dispatched a team of 1,000 troops to the quake site on Tuesday night, while 600 more were sent to the area on Wednesday. The military has provided 200 tents and 7,000 kg of food to the affected people. Meanwhile, a team of 21 military doctors and 50 medics arrived in the area to provide medical treatment to the injured people. Six army helicopters are taking part in the rescue work to airlift the seriously wounded people to hospitals in the country's southern port city of Karachi. Pakistan Navy also set up a medical camp in Gwadar area and dispatched a ship carrying blanket, tents, medicine, food and water. A Navy spokesperson said that they have sent 300 troops on aircrafts to the quake-hit areas. Provincial disaster management authority of Balochistan sent 19 trucks carrying food, water, blankets, tents and other necessities of life to the affected people. The earthquake measuring 7.7 magnitude on Richter scale hit Balochistan and parts of the country's east and south provinces of Punjab and Sindh. The quake was determined to be at 29.09 degrees north latitude and 65.61 degrees east longitude. Meteorological Department said Wednesday that several aftershocks including one of 5.9 magnitude were recorded following the major quake that struck the country at 4:29 p.m. local time on Tuesday.