QUETTA/KARACHI: At least 50 persons were killed and scores others injured when a strong earthquake struck Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan on Tuesday, and prompting a new island to rise from the sea just off the country’s southern coast.
The officials said that most of the casualties were from Awaran district of Balochistan, where 50 people were confirmed dead.
A rescue operation was launched in the area and all forces were placed on high alert to retrieve the people from the rubble as hundreds of mud houses in the district also collapsed during tremors.
The earthquake was so powerful that it caused the seabed to rise and create a small, mountain-like island about 600 meters (yards) off Pakistan’s Gwadar coastline in the Arabian Sea.
The US Geoplogical Survery said that the intensity of the earthquake was measured at 7.8 on the Richter scale while the Pakistan meteorological department said the epicenter was 120Km southwest of Khuzdar in Balochistan province at a depth of 10 kilometres.
The earthquake was also felt in the adjoining province of Sindh, including cities of Karachi, Jacobabad, Khairpur, and Nowshero Feroz.
Similarly, the tremors were also felt in some parts of India‚ Iran and Dubai.
