Killer quake's shock death toll

2005-10-10 12:22

Islamanad - The death toll from a huge earthquake that struck Pakistan, India and Afghanistan rose above 18 000 on Sunday, the Pakistani army spokesperson said, as rescuers struggled to dig victims from destroyed apartment buildings, schools and mud-brick homes.

Major general Shaukat Sultan said more than 18 020 people had been killed, 17 155 of them in Pakistani Kashmir, where Saturday's 7.6-magnitude quake was centered.

About 41 000 people were injured, he said. In addition, India reported several hundred deaths.

Sultan told The Associated Press that the death toll was expected to rise further. He said authorities in Pakistan confirmed the toll so far by counting bodies. About 215 Pakistani soldiers died, and 414 were injured, he said.

"We are handling the worst disaster in Pakistan's history," Sultan said.

The Pakistani military sent 25 helicopters with troops and medical supplies to quake-hit areas in Pakistani Kashmir and northwestern Pakistan to help survivors, Sultan said. However, rescuers had not yet reached some affected areas.

The UN sent emergency co-ordinators to worst-hit Pakistan on Sunday to prepare the global body's response to an earthquake that sparked landslides and razed entire villages. Pakistan's dead included 250 girls crushed at a school.

Rescuers grappled with rain that turned dirt and debris into sticky muck while aftershocks rattled an area stretching from Afghanistan across northern Pakistan into India's portion of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Hospitals moved quake victims onto lawns, fearing tremors could cause more damage. Many people spent the night in the open.

The US Geological Survey reported 22 aftershocks in the 24 hours after the quake, including a 6.2-magnitude temblor.

India's government offered condolences and assistance to Pakistan, a longtime rival with which it has been pursuing peace after fighting three wars since independence from British rule in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.

India reported at least 250 people killed and 800 injured when the quake collapsed 2 700 houses and other buildings in Jammu-Kashmir state.

An eight-member UN team of top disaster coordination officials was due to arrive in Islamabad on Sunday to plan the global body's response.

- SAPA