Pakistani villagers reel from quake

Desperate villagers in southwest Pakistan clawed through the wreckage of their homes yesterday, a day after a huge earthquake killed more than 300 people and created an island off the coast.

The 7.7-magnitude quake hit on Tuesday afternoon in Baluchistan province's remote Awaran district, a dirt-poor expanse of land roughly the size of Wales.

At least 328 people have been confirmed dead and more than 450 injured, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority and the Baluchistan government.

In the village of Dalbedi, the earthquake - Pakistan's deadliest since the Kashmir quake of 2005, which killed 73000 - flattened some 250 houses.

Bewildered villagers dug with their hands through the rubble of their mud houses in Dalbedi to retrieve what was left of their meagre possessions.

Their simple houses destroyed, they used rags, old clothes, sheets and tree branches to shelter their families from the sun.

Farmer Noor Ahmed, 45, said the tremors lasted for two minutes and turned buildings in the village into piles of mud.

"We have lost everything, even our food is now buried under mud and water from underground channels is now undrinkable because of excessive mud due to the earthquake," he said.

Jan Muhammad Buledi, spokesman for the Baluchistan government, said the death toll was likely to rise as rescue teams reached more villages, which have been shaken by more than a dozen aftershocks.

More than 300000 people had been affected by the quake across six districts - Awaran, Kech, Gwadar, Panjgur, Chaghi and Khuzdar - he said.

"People are still trapped under the rubble but it is a huge disaster and it will take time to reach and rescue all the people," Buledi said.

The authorities have prioritised finding the injured and getting them to hospital, but the task is hampered by the area's remoteness and the limited infrastructure there.

"It is difficult to estimate the real magnitude of the losses because the area is very vast with small and scattered villages," said Major General Muhammad Saeed Aleem, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority.

"We will receive satellite images tonight and then we will be in a position to analyse the magnitude of the losses."

The army has rushed medical staff and troops to the devastated area to help with rescue efforts, along with seven tons of food and a ton of medicine.

Six helicopters are taking part in rescue work, the military said.