KABUL, Afghanistan—The latest on a powerful earthquake in Afghanistan felt across South Asia (all times local).
12:30 a.m.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says U.N. agencies are mobilizing and are ready to support government-led relief operations for earthquake victims in Afghanistan and Pakistan if asked.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday that “reports are still coming in but it is clear that there has been loss of life and serious damage to infrastructure in both countries.”
He said Ban sends his deepest condolences to the governments and people of Afghanistan and Pakistan especially to those affected by the quake who lost family or friends.
Dujarric said scattered reports indicate damage across northeast Afghanistan and in Kabul. He said the government and U.N. are hampered by the lack of phone service.
11:50 p.m.
Pakistani authorities have increased the country’s death toll from Monday’s earthquake to 228, bringing the total regional death toll to 263. A total of 33 people were reported killed in Afghanistan and two people were killed in the Indian-controlled portion of the disputed territory of Kashmir.
9 p.m.
Pakistani authorities have increased the death toll from Monday’s earthquake to 189, bringing the total regional death toll to 224. The earthquake was centered in eastern Afghanistan, shaking buildings from Kabul to Delhi. A total of 33 people were reported killed in Afghanistan and two people were killed in the Indian-controlled portion of the disputed territory of Kashmir.
7:11 p.m.
Pakistani state-run media says the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has contacted his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to offer help for the earthquake victims in Pakistan.
Pakistan Television says Sharif thanked Modi for the offer but provided no further details.
7:00 p.m.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Pervez Rashid says Pakistan will not issue any appeals to the international community for help as the country has the required resources to carry out the
rescue and relief work. He also thanked neighboring India for offering support to Islamabad for the quake victims.
He says Pakistani civil and military authorities were trying their best to reach those affected by the quake.
“We have enough resources to handle the situation. Our top priority is to help those affected because of the earthquake,” he told a news conference.
Rashid said Pakistani Minister Nawaz Sharif was returning home after completing his visit to the United States.
6:35 p.m.
Pakistani officials say the death toll in their country from the Afghan earthquake has risen to 145, bringing the overall total to at least 180
Inayatullah Khan, Pakistan’s provincial minister, says the death toll from earthquake in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province alone has has jumped to 121.
At least two people were also killed in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province and in Pakistan controlled Kashmir.
6:00 p.m.
State-run Pakistani TV says 94 people have died as a result of a powerful earthquake in neighboring Afghanistan, bringing the region-wide toll from the disaster to 129.
Afghan officials say 33 people were killed nation-wide in Monday’s quake, including 12 schoolgirls who were trampled to death while trying to get out of swaying buildings. Another two people died in India-controlled parts of the disputed Kashmir region.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 and occurred at a depth of 212 kilometers (130 miles).
Mohammad Hanif, a top official at Pakistan’s Meteorological Department, says Monday’s quake did not cause massive destruction because the epicenter was so deep.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a tweet Monday afternoon after the earthquake, saying: “I pray for everyone’s safety.”
5:15 p.m.
Pakistani officials say a powerful earthquake in a remote part of neighboring Afghanistan killed 62 people in northwestern Pakistan, bringing the total death toll from the disaster to 79.
Abdul Latif Khan, a senior official at the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, says Monday’s earthquake killed 46 people in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Another official, Mussarrat Khan, says 16 people died in tribal regions near the border with Afghanistan. Officials say more than 400 people were wounded.
Another Pakistani died when a roof collapsed in an eastern city. Thirteen people died in Afghanistan and three people died in the disputed Kashmir region claimed by India and Pakistan.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 and occurred at a depth of 212 kilometers (130 miles).
Mohammad Hanif, a top official at Pakistan’s Meteorological Department, says Monday’s quake did not cause massive destruction because the epicenter was so deep.
5:00 p.m.
Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah says in a tweet that the earthquake was “the strongest one felt in recent decades. There are reports of heavy casualties caused by the earthquake but exact numbers are yet to be released by government authorities.”
He did not provide further details.
Earlier he called an emergency meeting of disaster officials, which was broadcast live on television. He instructed doctors and hospitals to be prepared to receive and treat casualties.
He said telecommunications have been disrupted in vast parts of the country, preventing the government from getting a concise picture of damage and casualties.
He also called on officials to be prepared for aftershocks.
3:58 p.m.
An 80-year-old woman died of a heart attack in in the southern town of Bijbehara in Indian controlled Kashmir, officials said, while two Indian army soldiers were injured when a sentry post collapsed on them in the in the town of
Sopore, police officer Imtiyaz Hussain said.
Zaheeruddin Qureshi, a senior rescue official, said at least one person was killed and another was injured when a wall of a home collapsed in Mirpur, a city in Pakistan’s part of Kashmir. He said landslides triggered by the quake also
disrupted normal traffic in various parts of Kashmir.
The deaths raise the toll from the earthquake to at least 45.
3:40 p.m.
Pakistani rescue officials say a powerful earthquake in neighboring Afghanistan caused the deaths of 29 people in northwestern Pakistan, bringing the total death toll from the temblor to 43.
Rescue official Latifir Rehman says 21 people were killed and 200 were injured in various parts of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Monday’s earthquake.
Another official, Fiaz Khan, says at least 8 people were killed and 70 injured in the Bajur tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
State-run Pakistani TV earlier reported a death from a roof collapsing in eastern Pakistan.
In Afghanistan, 12 students at a girls’ school died in a stampede trying to get out of the building.
In the northern town of Baramulla in the Indian-controlled part of the disputed Kashmir region, police officer Imtiyaz Hussain says a 65-year-old woman became so panicked she had a heart attack and died.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 and occurred at a depth of 212 kilometers (130 miles) in a remote area of northern Afghanistan.
3:30 p.m.
In Afghanistan’s Takhar province, west of Badakhshan, at least 12 students at a girls’ school were killed in a stampede as they tried to get out of the shaking buildings, a local official says.
Sonatullah Taimor, the spokesman for the Takhar provincial governor, says another 30 girls have been taken to the hospital in the provincial capital of Taluqan.
3:00 p.m.
A rescue official in northwestern Pakistan says a massive earthquake in neighboring Afghanistan that was felt across the region caused at least five deaths.
Mohammad Bilal says another 100 people were wounded in home collapses in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after Monday’s earthquake.
State-run Pakistani TV had earlier reported that someone had died when the roof of a home collapsed in the eastern city of Kasur.
The 7.5-magnitude earthquake, with an epicenter in a remote part of northern Afghanistan, was felt in cities across Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. In Kabul, the earthquake caused widespread power outages and telephone cuts.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 and occurred in a remote area of the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan. It said the temblor occurred at a depth of 212 kilometers (130 miles).
2:40 p.m.
State-run Pakistani television says at least one person died when the roof of a home collapsed because of a powerful earthquake in Afghanistan that could be felt across the region.
It says the roof collapsed Monday in the eastern city of Kasur. It says other homes collapsed in northern Pakistan, without providing further details.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has asked authorities to utilize all resources to help any victims of the earthquake.
The 7.7-magnitude earthquake, with an epicenter in a remote part of northern Afghanistan, was felt in cities across Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
In Kabul, the earthquake caused widespread power outages and telephone cuts. There were no immediate reports of major damage.
2:00 p.m.
A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake in northern Afghanistan rocked cities across South Asia.
Strong tremors were felt in Kabul, New Delhi and Islamabad on Monday. In the Pakistani capital, walls swayed back and forth and people poured out of office buildings in a panic, reciting verses from the Quran.
Vineet Gahlot, the director of seismology at the Indian Meteorological Department, said the earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 and an epicenter deep in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan. Pakistan state TV reported the same magnitude.
The full extent of the damage and the number of possible casualties was not yet known.
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