By Jaime Ortega.
An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale has shaken Balochistan, a province in western Pakistan , that has killed at least 328 people and injured hundreds , according to the latest official figures published .
According Saifuraman Khan , spokesman for the disaster management agency in the province of Baluchistan , learned shortly after the earthquake that the victims recorded in Awaran at least 30% of the houses to have been destroyed. As the hours continue to run it assumes that there will be many more fatalities, since the earthquake has destroyed entire villages.
” We have registered more than 370 people injured , but rescue teams are still working, and fear that people will still remain trapped, living or dead , under the rubble,” said the spokesman of a local disaster management, Saifuramán Khan.
The source also said that the count and the focus in the Awaran rescue has been mostly affected towns in the district and the neighboring mashke area in the remote province of Balochistan.
“A total of six districts – Awaran , Kech , Gwadar , Panjgur , Chaghi and Khuzdar – and a population of more than 300,000 people have been affected ,” added the spokesman meanwhile provincial government of Balochistan , Mohammad Baledi .
Authority spokesman National Disaster Management ( NDMA ) , Kamran Zia , has indicated that the earthquake occurred near Khuzdar area, that covers ten miles.
“At noon arrived specialized rescue teams that hope to accelerate the relief effort ,” said Zia , who acknowledged that there is expected to increase the number of victims .
Hospitals in the region are on high alert , according to the spokesman .
Meaning in Karachi
Besides in Balochistan and its capital, Quetta, the earthquake has been felt in major towns of the neighboring province of Sindh and its capital Karachi, the largest city in the country with 18 million inhabitants , as well as the neighboring areas India .
Last April, an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale epicenter in the Iranian city of Saravan , near the border with Pakistan , killed at least 70 neighbors in Mashkil an area also located close to Baluchistan.
