Death toll from Afghanistan-Pakistan quake in the hundreds

A house in Mingora, in Pakistan's Swat valley, was damaged. Photo: Reutres


ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Rescuers raised efforts to aid victims of a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in northern Afghanistan that hit cities across South Asia, shaking buildings from Kabul to Delhi and causing power outrage and telephone cuts.

According to the latest casualty figure, the temblor killed 300 people and injured some 2,000 others.

Rescue teams were sent to remote mountain areas where the impact of the quake is still unclear.

Reports say that people are living in fear of another earthquake, which led many to sleep outside their homes, where temperatures are close to freezing, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

Strong tremors were felt in Kabul, New Delhi and Islamabad from Monday’s quake. In the Pakistani capital, walls swayed back and forth and people poured out of office buildings in a panic, reciting verses from the Quran.

At least 12 students at a girls’ school were killed and 30 had been transferred to the hospital in the provincial capital of Tauqan, according to Sonatullah Taimor, the spokesman for the Takhar provincial governor. He added that students were stuck in classed when they tried to escape a stampede.

According to Zahid Rafiq, an official with the Pakistani meteorological department, the quake was felt across the country.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had asked authorities to utilize all resources to assist the victims.