Earthquake kills dozens in northern Pakistan

Dozens of people have died in northern Pakistan after a severe earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit major Pakistani cities on Saturday morning, according to local official.

The official was quoted by local media as saying that the toll could be "very high."

The quake rocked Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi and other parts of country on Saturday morning, according to local TV reports.

The quake shook buildings of Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, for about one minute at around 8:55 a.m. The water tank on the top of the office building of the Xinhua branch spilled out on the roof.

According to Hong Kong Observatory, the epicenter was initially determined to be 34.4 north latitude and 73.5 east longitude, about 100 kilometers northeast of Islamabad.

According to our Xinhua reporter, residents in Islamabad ran out of houses to stay in the open air. Many houses collapsed in the northern Pakistani districts of Kohistan and Batgram and an unknown number of people were injured and rushed to hospital.

At least eight people were injured in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.

The quake also shook northern India and part of Afghanistan as Xinhua reporters in New Delhi and Kabul said both the capitals felt the shakings of the quake.

The India Meteorological Department said the earthquake's epicenter was in Pakistan.

In India, the first tremor was felt at 9:25 a.m. Saturday in India-controlled Kashmir, north India's Uttaranchal, Punjab, Rajasthan, west India's Gujarat and the capital city Delhi.

Strong quakes have pushed people out of their homes in Srinagar in India-controlled Kashmir, according to NDTV reports.

High rise buildings were left particularly shaken by the tremor lasting for about minutes in Delhi.

Source: Xinhua