Pakistan quake, landslide kill 80

KARACHI - At least 80 people were killed when a powerful earthquake struck southwest Pakistan today, bringing down hundreds of mud-walled houses. The toll was expected to rise, a district official said.

The US Geological Survey said a 6.4 magnitude quake hit 40 miles northeast of the city of Quetta before dawn.

"I'm telling you that 80 people are dead in this area where I am standing right now," Sohail-ur-Rehman, a top district administration official in Baluchistan province told Dawn Television by telephone from Wam district.

Asked whether he expected the toll to rise, he said: "Much higher."

Officials in Ziarat district, 45 miles northeast of Quetta, the capital of the province, said many houses collapsed in the quake and some were destroyed in landslides trigged by the quake.

"Hundreds of mud houses have collapsed. We are using whatever resources we have to help the people and have asked for help from the provincial government," said Ziarat district chief Dilawar Khan.

"There is a large number of injured people, but we don't have an exact figure," he said.

Khan said people in the worst-hit areas had been rescued but teams had yet to reach some remote places in mountains above the Ziarat valley.

Ziarat district has a population of about 50,000. Its scenic valley is a picnic spot.

Five people had been killed in neighbouring Pishin district, to the north of Quetta, district government officials said.

"We were fast asleep when the tremor struck. We grabbed the children and ran outside. The earth continued shaking for more than a minute," said Habibullah, a resident of Pishin.