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The death toll from a powerful 7.7-Richter earthquake that hit several regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan has risen to 339. Afghan and Pakistani officials said yesterday that 258 people lost their lives in Pakistan and 78 in Afghanistan while three people were killed on the Indian side of the disputed region of Kashmir. The number is expected to rise further.
The temblor’s epicentre was located 73 kilometres (45 miles) south of Fayzabad, the capital of Afghanistan’s sparsely populated Badakhshan province near the border with Pakistan, Tajikistan and China. It struck the two neighbouring countries on Monday.
The figures come as rescuers are still trying to reach quake-stricken areas across Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Afghan officials have confirmed 78 dead and 466 wounded, based on numbers reported by hospitals across the country.
“We believe the exact numbers are much higher because not all people bring the bodies to the hospitals so there are many that aren’t being counted.
“And there are still areas we don’t have access to so we aren’t aware of the situation there,” said Qameruddin Sediqi, an adviser to the public health minister.
Badakhshan Govenor Shah Waliullah Adeeb, meanwhile, said the quake either demolished or partially destroyed 1,500 houses there.
He added that the province’s casualty figures of 11 dead and 25 wounded would increase “by the end of the day, once the survey teams get to the remote areas and villages.”
Authorities in the province of Baghlan, southwest of Badakhshan, reported at least three deaths, but the number is expected to go up.
Meanwhile, in Nangarhar province on the eastern border with Pakistan, officials said at least 28 people were killed and 141 were wounded.
More than 1,000 homes are also destroyed.
Pakistan’s Swat Valley and areas around Dir, Malakand and Shangla towns in the mountains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are hard-hit, with authorities saying that 202 people died in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Over 2,000 people have sustained injuries in Monday’s quake in Pakistan that also damaged more than 4,000 homes. Casualties and damage are also being assessed in the country.
Pakistan was last struck by a magnitude-7.6 quake in October 2005, which killed more than 80,000 people and left more than 3 million homeless.— PressTV
Online Reporter