Over 200 killed in Pak after deadly quake

The US Geological Survey reported that the quake was centred in the mountainous Hindu Kush region, 76km (45 miles) south of Faizabad, in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province.

In the Pakistani city of Peshawar, scores of men, women and children were rushed to the emergency room at the Lady Reading Hospital, the main health facility in the capital of the northwestern border province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Afghan officials have so far confirmed 33 fatalities in the provinces of Badakhshan, where the epicentre in located, as well as in Takhar, Nagarhar and Baghlan.

At least 200 people have died after a powerful magnitude-7.5 quake hit north-eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In Afghanistan, officials put the death toll at 63 and said that hundreds more were injured in half a dozen provinces.

“We have no presence in the affected areas, limiting our chances of a fair assessment of the security situation on the ground”, he said on condition of anonymity.

Officials expected the casualty toll to rise as they reached the remote areas. Landslides and rough terrain are making it hard to reach people in need. Pakistan and the region, along an active continental plate boundary, is often hit by earthquakes.

The casualties and the extent of damage are still being assessed, said Ahmad Kamal, the spokesman for Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority.

For updates on this breaking story, follow VOA reporters Ayesha Tanzeem on Twitter in Kabul and Ayaz Gul in Islamabad.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is visiting London, had shortened his trip and would be back home Tuesday to monitor the rescue and relief operation, Rasheed said.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman expressing deep sorrow over occurrence of heavy natural disaster in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India and sympathizing with peoples and governments in those countries announced Iran’s readiness to assist, Irna reported. More than 50 were injured and 200 houses were destroyed.

Experts are warning that shallow aftershock tremors might occur in the following days.

United Nations agencies are mobilising and are ready to support Afghanistan and Pakistan in the wake of an quake, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said. Rescue efforts in Afghanistan will be a little complicated as there is still violence and conflicts in a few of these areas.

Three died in Srinagar, summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, while scores of people suffered injuries across Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in the 7.5 magnitude quake which hit Afghanistan.