Peshawar: The overall death toll in the powerful 7.5- magnitude earthquake which lasted for nearly a minute has jumped to 230 and left thousands injured as the quake struck a swathe of the subcontinent across Afghanistan, Pakistan and north India.
The epicentre was located near Jurm in Badakhshan province of the remote northeastern part of Afghanistan, 250 km from capital Kabul, in the Hindu Kush mountain range at a depth of 213.5 km, according to the US Geological Survey.
“Initial reports show a big loss of life, huge financial losses in Badakhshan, Takhar, Nangarhar, Kunar and other regions, including capital Kabul,” said Afghanistan’s chief executive Abdullah Abdullah.
In Afghanistan, a total of 33 people were reported dead, including 12 girls who were killed in a stampede while trying to flee from their school in Takhar province, west of the epicentre.
Badakhshan provincial governor Shah Waliullah Adib said about 400 houses were destroyed but he had no figures on casualties.
By early evening, 200 deaths were reported, most in northern and northwestern regions of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. Particularly hard-hit was the northern area of Chitral, where 20 people were killed, police official Shah Jehan said.
Pakistan mobilised its troops and all military hospitals have been put on high alert, army spokesman Lt General Asim Bajwa said, adding that specialised earthquake rescue machinery and army helicopters were being readied for use.
Meanwhile thousands of people fled out of their houses and offices in Delhi and adjoining areas as well as in parts of Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana.
Two elderly women died of cardiac arrest in Kashmir Valley apparently due to panic triggered by the earthquake, which also killed a youth in Reasi district of Jammu & Kashmir. Ten people, including two soldiers, were injured in the Valley.