QUETTA, Pakistan — Rescuers struggled this morning to help thousands of people injured and left homeless after their houses collapsed in a massive earthquake in southwestern Pakistan the day before as the death toll rose overnight to 210.
The earth moved with enough force to create a small island visible off the southern coast after the huge tremor, said Pakistani officials.
The magnitude 7.7 quake struck in the remote district of Awaran in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province on Tuesday afternoon. Such a quake is considered major, capable of widespread and heavy damage.
It was felt as far away as New Delhi, the Indian capital, about 740 miles away, but no damage or injuries were immediately reported there.
A provincial official in Baluchistan, Additional Home Secretary Zahid bin Maqsood, put the death toll at 210 and said 375 people had been injured, while a spokesman for the provincial government, Jan Mohammad Bulaidi, put the death toll at 238 — conflicting figures likely due to the difficulty in contacting local officials and people in the remote region.
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