Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have called on the army to make every effort to carry out relief and rescue work after hundreds died in a strong earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale rocking Pakistan on Saturday morning, according to local TV reports.

The epicenter of the earthquake rocking major Pakistani cities of Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi and other parts of the country on Saturday morning.

Major General Shaukat Sultan, Director General, Inter-services Public Relations (ISPR) and Military spokesman, has said that Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir and other cities of country have been severely hit by the earthquake this morning, while in some outskirts areas of Azad Kashmir several villages have totally disappeared.

He said that the Pakistan Army has already started the relief work in affected areas and its scores of teams along with helicopters were in operation.

Source: Xinhua