The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck a remote part of southwestern Pakistan jumped to more than 200 as rescue teams rush to the area.
[caption id="attachment_8832" align="alignnone" width="400"]
(Office workers speak on their mobile phones in the street after an earthquake in Karachi forced them to evacuate their workplaces (Photo: RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP))[/caption]The 7.7-magnitude quake hit the Awaran district of Baluchistan province on Tuesday afternoon, destroying scores of mud-built houses.
A local official said the death toll was 208.
"We have started to bury the dead," said Abdul Rasheed Gogazai, the deputy commissioner of Awaran, the most affected district in Baluchistan province.
Abdul Latif Kakar, the head of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority said there were more than 300 people injured.
A top local administration official in Awaran, Abdul Rasheed Baluch, said many more deaths were feared as response teams worked through the day.
"We have been busy in rescue efforts for the whole night and fear we will recover more dead bodies from under the rubble during the daylight," he said.
"Around 90 percent of houses in the district have been destroyed. Almost all the mud houses have collapsed."
Some of the dead have already been laid to rest in their villages, he added.
Local television reported that helicopters carrying relief supplies had been dispatched to the affected area.
The army said it had deployed 200 troops to help deal with the disaster.
(Edited by Bonnie Malkin)
(The Telegraph, 25 Wednesday September 2013 The Roman)
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