Hundreds dead
as quake rocks
Pakistan region

The earth moved with enough force to create a small island visible off the southern coast when the magnitude 7.7 quake struck in the remote district of Awaran in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province on Tuesday.

The quake flattened wide swathes of Awaran. Most died when their houses collapsed.

In the hard-hit village of Dalbadi, Noor Ahmad said he was working when the earthquake struck but rushed home, only to find his house leveled to the ground and his wife and son dead.

He said he pulled their bodies from the rubble and helped other family members who were injured.

“I’m broken. I have lost my family,” he said.

Dalbadi was completely flattened. No one in the village knew exactly how many people the quake has killed there.

The remoteness of the area and the lack of infrastructure have hampered the relief efforts.

Pakistani television showed, men, women and children sitting in makeshift shelters. Doctors have treated some of the injured, but due to a scarcity of medicine and staff, they were mostly seen comforting the residents.

“We are finding it very difficult to reach the affected remote areas,” said a provincial government spokesman. “We need more tents, more medicine and more food.”

The Pakistani military said it had rushed almost 1,000 troops to the area overnight and was sending helicopters as well. A convoy of 60 Pakistani army trucks left Karachi carrying supplies.

Local officials said they were sending doctors, food and 1,000 tents for people who had nowhere to sleep as strong aftershocks continued to shake the region.

Pakistani officials are also investigating a small island that appeared off the coast of Pakistan after the quake, apparently the result of earth and mud pushed to the surface.

The head of the Geological Survey of Pakistan confirmed that the mass was created by the quake and said scientists will try to determine how it happened by taking samples from the landform.

Zahid Rafi said such masses are sometimes created by the movement of gases locked in the earth under the sea, pushing mud and earth up to the surface in something akin to a mud volcano. But they can also subside back into the ocean, depending on their makeup.

Baluchistan is Pakistan’s largest province but also the least populated and most impoverished. Medical facilities are few and far between and often poorly stocked with medicine or qualified personnel. Awaran district has about 300,000 residents spread out over 11,000 square miles.

The province, and neighboring Iran, are prone to earthquakes. A magnitude 7.8 quake centered just across the border in Iran killed at least 35 people in Pakistan last April.