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Hundreds dead in powerful Asian earthquake
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-08 19:53
A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake reduced villages to rubble in
Pakistan and India on Saturday, killing hundreds of people. Pakistan's army
described the damage as widespread and said it included villages buried in
quake-induced landslides.
A Pakistani man injured when a
building collapsed after an earthquake arrives in a hospital in Islamabad
October 8, 2005.[Reuters]
Pakistan's Geo television quoted Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the Pakistani
army's chief spokesman, as saying 1,000 people were feared dead. Pakistani army
officials who flew over quake-hit areas reported seeing hundreds of flattened
homes in villages north of the capital Islamabad.
"The damage and casualties could be massive and it is a national tragedy,"
Sultan told The Associated Press. "The is the worst earthquake in recent times."
The U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site the quake hit at 8:50 a.m.
local time and had a magnitude of 7.6. It was centered about 60 miles northeast
of Islamabad in the forested mountains of Pakistani Kashmir.
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