Deadly earthquake rocks Afghanistan, India and Pakistan

A major earthquake has hit Afghanistan, northern Pakistan and parts of India, with early reports suggesting extensive damage caused in mountainous areas.

Picture Credit: BBC Afghan

A powerful earthquake has struck in the far north of Afghanistan, with tremors felt in Pakistan and India

A powerful earthquake has struck northern Afghanistan, with tremors felt in Pakistan and northern India.

At least 40 people are said to have been killed in Pakistan, with about 20 deaths reported in Afghanistan.
The magnitude 7.5 quake was centred in the mountainous Hindu Kush region, 75km (46 miles) south of Faizabad, the US Geological Survey reported.
Buildings were evacuated in the capitals of all three countries and communications disrupted in many areas.

A patient is brought to a hospital after severe earthquake was felt in Mingora, Pakistan, on Monday. Naveed Ali / AP

In the Afghan province of Takhar, a stampede at a girls' school triggered by the quake is reported to have left 12 students dead. Another 25 students were injured.
Five people died in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, hospital sources said.
Most of the casualties in Pakistan are reported to have happened in the northern tribal areas.
Officials said the quake happened at a depth of 212km. The magnitude was initially put at 7.7 but later downgraded.

Rescue officials said many people had been injured in Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan’s north, while two women were reportedly killed in a house collapse in Swat, a region north of the capital.
At least one building collapsed in a bazaar in the city of Peshawar. The main hospital there reported a rush of more than 100 injured people in its emergency wards.

Pakistan’s army was ordered to “carry out immediate rescue work in any affected areas without waiting for formal orders”.
An official said there were reports of casualties and destruction in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province.
Power was cut across much of the Afghan capital, Kabul, where the quake was felt for about 45 seconds. Office workers ran out of their buildings, and houses shook, walls cracked and cars rolled in the street. Officials in the city could not be immediately reached as telephone lines appeared to be cut.
The quake was also felt in the Indian capital, Delhi, though no damage was immediately reported. Office buildings swayed and workers who had just returned from lunch ran out of buildings and gathered in the street or in car parks.
In 2005, a 7.6-magnitude quake killed more than 80,000 in Pakistan.