A Pakistan earthquake has killed dozens of people. The quake was reported as a 7.7 magnitude by the U.S. Geological Survey on Tuesday.
The death toll is continuously increasing and at least 46 have died in Awaran in Balochistan province, provincial Home Secretary Asad Gilani told CNN. Gilani also added that dozens were injured on top of the fatalities. There is a possibility that many more are trapped in the rubble. A rescue emergency was declared by the province and doctors are on standby at hospitals while officials are on high alert.
More than 200 troops have been sent to the area to help out, including rescue and medical teams.
The earthquake hit in a remote area at a depth of about nine miles. It struck 43 miles northeast of Awaran and 72 miles northwest of Bela according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Many mud-walled homes fell in Awaran according to Latif Kakar, director of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority in Balochistan. The quake was felt for about two minutes, sending people out onto the streets of the provincial capital of Quetta. Aftershocks could be felt as far as Karachi, which is hundreds of miles to the southeast.
"We all ran out for safety in the open field in front of our house. Many other neighbors were also there. Thank God no one was hurt in our area but the walls of four or five house collapsed," Khair Mohammed Baluch, who lives in the town of Awaran, roughly 30 miles south of the epicenter told the Associated Press.
According to local police official Mozzam Jah, the quake was so strong that it caused a 30 fot 40 foot high mass to emerge from the ocean like a small mountain island off the coast of Gwadar. Many have gathered to view the new island. Zahid Rafi, principal seismologist for the National Seismic Monitoring Center, said that he wasn't surprised that an island formed due to the strength of the earthquake.
Pakistan has had a lot of seismic activity in recent years. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed at least 35 people in Pakistan last April and in January 2011, a 7.2 magnitude quake damaged 200 mud homes in Baluchistan.
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