KARACHI: A strong earthquake measuring magnitude 7.8 on Richter scale jolted Asian and Gulf region especially Pakistani cities including Karachi, Islamabad, Hyderabad, Lahore and Quetta on Tuesday afternoon.
US Geological survey confirmed that the epicentre of the quake was at Pakistan-Iran border and it was recorded 7.8 on Richter scale.
Following the devastating earhtquake in Karachi and the border areas of Pakistan and Iran, Pakistan Army has started its operations in Mashakeel area. According to latest news, two Pakistan Army helicoprters reached Mashakeel late evening to provide humanitarian aid to the wretched people affected by the erathquake
According to the official press release issued here by the Pakistan Army’s media wing ISPR “Score of houses collapsed in Mashkhel (located close to Pak –Iran border ) District Washuk.”
“Frontier Corps troops (62 Wing) located in area immediately tasked by Headquarters Southern Command to respond to the situation; undertake relief and rescue operations and provide medical treatment to the injured, said ISPR.
Official release also told that additional Frontier Corps troops being moved from Kharan to supplement the relief efforts. Army helicopters being flown to Mashkhel along with medical staff,tents, medicines and other relief items for helping the locals on emergent basis.
Pakistani officials confirm that the eartquake kills 34 people in different parts of southwestern Balochistan province.
Officials confirmed the casualties while talking to Pakistani journalists that up to 34 people had died due to the earthquake, while 80 were reported to be injured in the Mashkel area of Balochistan’s Washuk district alone.
Tremors were felt across several Pakistani cities, including Quetta, Pishin, Killa Abdullah, Chaghi, Sibi, Jaffarabad, Karachi, Hyderabad, Quetta, Badin, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi.
According to reports, the earthquake shook areas from Quetta to Pak-Iran Border Taftan and Pak-Afghan border Chaman. And Mekran belt near Arabian Sea.
Several part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, including Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan, and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, also felt the jolts.
The quake was also felt in Dubai, Indian, Gulf, Pakistani, Iranian, Saudi Arabian cities.
Correspondent from Karachi said that the quake was felt at 3:45pm and it created panic among the offices workers. “It was measured 5.4 on Richter scale in Karachi,” Asad Farooq, the correspondent, said.
Our correspondent from India, Iran also confirmed the quake.
At least five people have been reportedly dead and 35 others injured in Pakistan’s Pangor area around 1,000 houses collapsed in the country’s town of Mushkil near the border with Iran.
AFP adds:
A powerful earthquake rattled Iran on Tuesday, and was felt in the Gulf and South Asia where at least five people died and frightened office workers fled their buildings, reports said.
Iran’s Seismological Centre said on its website that the 7.5-magnitude quake struck at 3:14 pm (1044 GMT) in the southeast near the Islamic republic’s border with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The website of the US Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quake at 7.8, and said it struck near the Iranian city of Khash, in the province of Sistan Baluchistan.
In Pakistan, the quake brought down homes, killing at least five people and injuring others, a hospital official said.
“We have received five dead bodies,” Ashraf Baloch told AFP by telephone from Mashkail in Washuk district, around three kilometres (1.8 miles) from the border with Iran.
Seven people were reportedly hurt in Iran, but there was no immediate official confirmation of any deaths in the country.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency said crisis management authorities had declared a state of emergency in the quake-hit area.
“The quake is unprecedented in 56 years” for Iran, Mehdi Zare, an official at the Seismological Centre, told state television without elaborating.
The head of Iran’s Red Crescent rescue corps, Mahmoud Mozafar, said communications to the stricken areas have been cut by the quake.
The earthquake also shook buildings in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, across the waters of the Gulf in the United Arab Emirates. It was also felt in the Saudi capital Riyadh and in Oman.
In the tourist hub of Dubai, residential and office buildings were evacuated and thousands of people gathered outside skyscrapers.
“Everybody’s on the streets. There’s a state of panic,” said the director of an insurance company in the city centre who identified himself only as Rami.
The grandiose Dubai Mall was completely evacuated, according to employees who said people were evacuated from towers in Downtown Dubai, home to the world’s tallest building.
The quake was also strongly felt in Kuwait, particularly in coastal areas, and in the Bahraini capital Manama, where buildings in the central financial district were evacuated.
The earthquake was felt across northern India, including in the capital New Delhi where tremors rattled buildings and led many office workers to run into the street as a precaution.
There were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties in India, but concern remains high just 10 days after a building collapse in Mumbai killed 72 people.
“We felt the jerks,” said S.C. Basu, a retired government engineer who lives in the east of the Indian capital. “Our beds shook and crockery rattled. Many people left for outside.”
The deputy head of Iran’s state crisis management organisation, Morteza Akbarpour, told Fars news agency casualties should be low considering the rural setting of the stricken area.
The quake comes a week after a strong earthquake struck near Iran’s Gulf port city of Bushehr, killing at least 30 people and injuring 800 but leaving Iran’s only nuclear power plant intact.
Note: More updates are being added, please refresh the page.
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