People evacuate from houses after a strong earthquake in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, Oct. 26, 2015. At least two people were killed and 37 were injured when an earthquake measuring 8.1 at Richter Scale hit Pakistan on Monday, local media and met office said. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 64 people were killed and over 400 others injured when an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale hit Pakistan on Monday, local media and met office reported.
ARY news reported that the country's northwestern tribal areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were the worst-hit, being closest to the epicenter, where over 50 people were killed and many buildings collapsed.
Speaking with Xinhua via phone, Reema Zuberi, spokesperson of the National Disaster Management Authority, said there is no officials figure about the casualties yet as they are compiling the data.
Asad Qaisar, speaker of the provincial assembly of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, said 150 people have been shifted to various hospitals in the provincial capital of Peshawar.
He said the Provincial Disaster Management Authority has been alerted to carry out the rescue and relief operation in the province.
Xinhua's reporter from Peshawar said the injured people at the hospitals in the city were brought from the outskirts of the city and most of them got fractures in their limbs.
Pervez Khattak, Chief Minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkwa, said the death toll is feared to rise as the far flung areas could not be accessed yet due to the disruption of road network and lack of proper communication facilities.
Xinhua's reporter, carrying out on-the-spot coverage in Peshawar, said some of the injured told him that they were walking their way home from office when a building collapsed and their bricks hit them.
"I saw the building collapse, but before I could get away from it the bricks hit me, one of my colleagues also got buried under the rubbles who was later shifted to hospital where he is stable now," an injured man said.
A total of 10 people including two school kids were killed when the strong tremors hit the eastern Punjab province.
At least four people were killed in the country's northern Kohistan district and two in the northeastern Kashmir region, said the report.
The quake also jolted the country's capital Islamabad where eight people were injured and walls of some of the houses of collapsed.
Land sliding was reported in the northern areas of the country and cracks appeared in the glacier in Hunza area.
Telecommunication services were suspended in many areas of the country as the strong tremors levelled many mobile towers to ground.
Sports and education activities were halted in many parts of the country, following the quake.
Local MET office said that the quake hit the country at about 2:09 p.m. local time and its epicenter was determined in Mount Hindukush, located along Pakistan-Afghanistan border, with a focal depth of 193 km.
MET office staff said aftershocks are expected to hit the country in the next 24 hours.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed the concerned officials to provide relief to the affected people.
A crisis management cell has been formed on the directives of the prime minister to meet the emergency situation in the worst-hit areas.
The country's Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Raheel Sharif, directed military personnel to report about the losses to him, and an emergency has been imposed on all the military hospitals.
