Hundreds die in South Asia quake (56k)

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*pics at the bottem*

Hundreds die in South Asia quake

Pakistan says more than 1,000 people may have died in a powerful quake that also hit north India and Afghanistan.
The quake with a magnitude of at least 7.6 had the epicentre 80km (50 miles) north-east of Islamabad.

At least 500 died in North-West Frontier province in Pakistan and 1,700 were injured. In Indian-administered Kashmir, 200 are confirmed dead.

Rescuers are trying to reach dozens of residents feared trapped in a building that collapsed in Islamabad.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who was visiting the site, said the quake was a "test of the nation".



Map of earthquake
Shortly after he spoke an aftershock struck Islamabad, forcing people from their homes.

The first tremor, which was registered at 0350 GMT, was felt by residents as far away as the Afghan capital, Kabul, and India's capital, Delhi.

Aid talks

Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan, President's Musharraf's spokesman, said: "Casualties will be high... they could be well over 1,000.

HAVE YOUR SAY
I live opposite the collapsed apartment building in Islamabad and saw it collapse like one of those staged demolitions you see on TV. I am now homeless as my apartment building has been declared unsafe

Qaiser Rasul, Islamabad, Pakistan

"It is a national tragedy," he said.

Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told local television: "We have reports that several entire villages have been wiped out."

Part of the Margala Towers residential complex collapsed in Islamabad.

At least 20 injured people were pulled out but dozens are feared trapped. Rescuers are listening for cries from under the rubble.

One rescuer, Rehmatullah, said: "I rushed down and for some time you could not see anything because of the dust... We pulled out one man by cutting off his legs."

Ben Phillips of Oxfam told the BBC a meeting of relief organisations was under way and is liaising with the UN and the Pakistani government on supplying aid.

Mr Phillips said the initial requirement would be for tents, blankets, food aid and medical supplies.

Mohammad Hanif, an official at the Pakistan Meteorological Department, told Reuters: ""We can say that it was one of the strongest earthquakes [ever] felt in Islamabad."


South Asia reels from a powerful earthquake


In pictures


In Indian-administered Kashmir, 15 soldiers are confirmed dead.

The town of Uri close to the Line of Control that separates divided Kashmir was worst hit, with 104 dead.

Four hundred tents have been sent to Uri and Tangdar, where a large number of people have been made homeless.

The army has also joined in the rescue operation and doctors have been asked to return from leave.

The administration is working overtime to restore essential supplies like electricity and water disrupted by the earthquake, says the BBC's Altaf Hussain in Srinagar.

India has promised 100,000 rupees ($2,200) to the next of kin of each of its dead.

In other reports around the region:



About 35 people were feared dead when a courtroom and two schools collapsed in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, police said.

A meeting attended by India's premier, Manmohan Singh, in the northern city of Chandigarh was stopped after his bodyguards ordered an immediate evacuation following the tremors.

The 200-year-old Moti Mahal fort in Poonch district, Indian-administered Kashmir, has collapsed.

Haikal Shah Falah, a government employee in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan, said: "We've reports that two children were killed, one in Charbag and one in Chapliyar districts."

One child was killed and six injured in a school collapse in Rawalpindi, Pakistan's information minister said.

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