Quake survivors search for their belongings in the rubble of their mud homes in Mashkail in the southwestern Baluchistan province, yesterday.
Mashkail: Pakistani survivors of a tremor centred in Iran that killed 41 people dug through the rubble of their ruined homes yesterday as the military rushed to send aid to the remote region.
The US also offered aid after the 7.8-magnitude quake, Iran’s most powerful in five decades, damaged an estimated 2,000 mud homes — three-quarters of the total in Mashkail — a town in the poor Pakistani province of Baluchistan.
The quake was felt across the region. Efforts to help survivors were hampered by Mashkail’s remote location with scattered communities.
There are also no paved roads, no electricity and limited mobile phone coverage, and no proper medical facilities.
Only three tents were visible in the town and families were sheltering under trees.
A 5.7-magnitude tremor early yesterday frayed nerves further. Aftershocks were felt in the Mashkel Tehsil of Washuk district of Baluchistan, on the Pak-Iran border, Pakistan’s Geo News reported. Details of fresh material and human loss could not be collected immediately.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority said 105 injured people had been treated.
While some survivors offered prayers for the dead, others dug through rubble with spades and knives to try to recover their belongings.
“We often feel tremors here, but this was the worst I’ve ever seen in my life. I thought a bulldozer was passing by close to my house,” Abdul Ghaffour, 50, said.
“All are mud homes here. A lot of walls fell. There was a lot of dust so I couldn’t see what was happening. Thank God my family and I are safe.”
Major General Obaidullah Khattak of the Frontier Corps, a Pakistani paramilitary force, said 16 injured people had been taken by helicopter to Baluchistan’s capital Quetta and nine doctors were on the scene.
“We have sent one tonne of medicine. Two trucks of edible items and 350 tents will arrive tonight,” he said.
Khattak added that about 500 troops have reached Mashkail from the surrounding areas, travelling through the night to provide help.
Esa Tahir, a local coordinator for the charity Islamic Relief, said 5,000 people had been affected and about 150 shops destroyed.
At least five government buildings, including administrative and revenue offices, a school and a hospital, were also damaged.
The area’s scattered population made determining the death toll difficult, but Frontier Corps Major Attiq Minhas said at Dalbandin airport, around 250km from Mashkail, that at least 41 people had died.
Minhas said 650 Pakistani personnel were involved in the rescue operation in the town and medical staff had received 23 wounded people so far.
Eight injured people, including four children from the same family, were waiting for a helicopter to fly them to Quetta, the provincial capital.
A helicopter came but could not land due to a dust storm, a military officer said, adding that they will be shifted today.
US Secretary of State John Kerry offered condolences and assistance with relief work.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed condolences and said the UN stood ready to help if needed.
The quake struck in the afternoon with its epicentre around 80km east of the city of Khash, in the Iranian province of Sistan Baluchistan. It came a week after another struck near Iran’s Gulf port city of Bushehr.
Baluchistan, an inaccessible province bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is plagued by Islamist militancy, attacks on the minority Shias and a separatist Baluch insurgency.
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