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Wam, Pakistan: The death toll from Pakistan's devastating earthquake rose to 215 on Thursday, as Pakistani army helicopters scoured mountains for survivors.
The powerful earthquake hit the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan on Wednesday, flattening about 1,500 mud-walled homes and triggering landslides, officials said.
The epicentre of Wednesday's quake was in Ziarat district, a scenic valley and one of the main tourist spots in Balochistan.
Earlier, chief district administrator Dilawar Khan said 170 people had been killed in that district and 350 injured.
"The rescue operation is over. We've retrieved all bodies and the injured. Now the problem is relief as there's a shortage of tents, blankets and food while the weather is getting cold," Khan said.
The US Geological Survey said the 6.4 magnitude quake struck 60km northeast of the provincial capital, Quetta.
Pakistan's Meteorological Department put the magnitude at 6.5 and said the quake, at the shallow depth of about 10km, struck at 5.10am local time.
About 20 aftershocks, the biggest of 6.2 magnitude, caused more damage and rattled the nerves of survivors as they scoured the rubble for loved ones.
"The village has been flattened. You can't see a house still standing. There's destruction everywhere," said Abdul Rahim Ziyawal, a rescue worker in Wam, one of the worst-hit villages where authorities were using excavators to dig mass graves.
Pakistan is no stranger to natural disasters. In October 2005, about 73,000 people were killed when a 7.6 magnitude quake hit northern mountains. Last year, the worst floods on record in Balochistan killed hundreds.
Khan said most people in Ziarat district, which has a population of about 50,000, were sleeping out, either because their homes were destroyed or damaged, or because aftershocks left them too sacred to sleep inside.
Do you know anyone in the UAE who has relatives or friends in the affected areas? How can quake-prone areas be better prepared to deal with natural calamities? Should an early warning system be installed in such areas?
Your comments
(As we learn from history) This area of Balochistan has the history of big disasters, some time back in 1930s the whole city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, was fully distroyed because of earth quake The governoment of Pakistan should take soild steps and allow only earth quake proof constructions in these areas, and install better communication
MOHAMMAD
Dubai,UAE
Posted: October 30, 2008, 11:40
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