Islamabad/Karachi: A major 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and damaging several houses near the epicentre in a remote part of Balochistan province.
Ten people were killed and several houses and shops were damaged in Awaran area of Khuzdar district in Balochistan, Geo News channel reported. Two bodies were pulled out of the debris of a collapsed building. At least eight injured persons were taken to hospital, media reports said.
Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Malik declared an emergency in Awaran, about seven to eight hours' drive from Quetta, the provincial capital. The quake, with its epicentre 69 km from Awaran, was originally measured at 7.4 on the Richter Scale by the US Geological Survey which later it revised to 7.8. Pakistan's meteorological office gave the magnitude as 7.7. The quake struck at 4.29 pm Pakistani time at a depth of 23 kilometres. There were no reports of casualties or damage to property in other areas.
Tremors were felt in Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana and other towns and cities of Sindh province. Reports said the quake was also felt in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The tremors that lasted almost a minute caused widespread panic in many places. People rushed out of their offices and homes in Karachi, the country's largest city, and other parts of Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
National Seismic Monitoring Centre Director Zahid Rafi said that the tremors were of "great intensity" in Quetta and in some remote areas of Balochistan. "The affected areas include Jaffarabad, Noskhi, Kalat, Windar, Naseerabad, Phunjgur and Mastung," he said.
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