Balochistan quake: toll jumps to 825

The death toll from two powerful earthquakes that devastated an impoverished region of Balochistan has climbed to 825, National Disaster Management Authority said on Tuesday.
More than 30 villages, containing some 20,000 homes, were flattened across 15,400 square miles of the remote Balochistan region.
Dozens of bodies are being recovered every day from mud homes whose walls and beams have been reduced to dust and rubble.
Conditions are desperate among the survivors and many are going without food, water and shelter, having lost everything in the quake.
So far, no relief camp has been established Mashkay, Gashgor and Malar areas where quack victims waiting for government help under open skies.
Baloch rebel militant group’s attacks on security forces disturbed rescue operation in quake-hit areas of restive province.
According to PDMA, rescue teams will be sent to the affected areas only after security clearance.
The quake is Pakistan s deadliest since the Kashmir tremor of 2005 which killed 73,000. The toll is expected to rise further as rescue teams dig through the rubble of countless flattened mud-brick homes.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt