Pakistani rescuers pulled 175 bodies from the rubble of hundreds of mud-walled homes flattened by a powerful earthquake in the southwestern province of Baluchistan on Wednesday, government officials said.The US Geological Survey said a 6.4 magnitude quake hit 60 km northeast of the provincial capital, Quetta. Pakistan’s Meteorological Department put the magnitude at 6.5 and said the quake, at the shallow depth of about 10 km struck at 5.10 am.Many people were believed to be buried under rubble and at least 18 aftershocks rattled the nerves of survivors.“The village has been flattened. You can’t see a house still standing. There’s destruction everywhere,” said Abdul Rahim Ziyawal, a rescue worker in Wam, one of the worst-hit villages where authorities were using excavators to dig mass graves.The epicentre of Wednesday’s quake was in Ziarat district, a scenic valley and one of the main tourist spots in Baluchistan.The chief administrator of Ziarat district, which has a population of about 50,000, said 160 bodies had been recovered.The quake injured scores of people and triggered landslides that destroyed about 1,500 houses and blocked roads. Rescuers were still trying to reach some remote places in mountains above the Ziarat valley, where many people were believed to be buried.Another senior official in Ziarat, Sohail-ur-Rehman, said authorities were scrambling to help about 12,000 homeless people.The army had sent helicopters and a medical team and paramilitary troops had joined the search for survivors, the military said.“The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sent two teams to the area. Aftershocks have continued which we think will force the population to stay outside, and the weather is cold,” said ICRC spokeswoman Carla Haddad. Five people had been killed in neighbouring Pishin district, to the north of Quetta, district government officials said.The head of a national disaster management team, Farooq Ahmed Khan, said about 300 rescue workers had reached Ziarat. Tents, blankets and clothing were being flown in.Officials and hospital staff said scores of people had been injured, most when houses collapsed or in the panic when people rushed from their homes.
