“The USA government has been in touch with the governments in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and we stand ready to provide any additional support that may be needed”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday at a briefing.
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There are multiple reports about the death toll. It gave no further details.
As night fell across the area’s rugged and, in a few places, rebel-held terrain, Afghan and Pakistani authorities rushed to mount rescue efforts.
“We have enough resources to handle the situation”.
Rashid said Pakistani Minister Nawaz Sharif was returning home after completing his visit to the United States.
The natural disaster was said to be one of the most powerful ever recorded in Pakistan’s history.
In Pakistan, 38 deaths were reported by early evening, most in northern and northwestern regions bordering Afghanistan, officials said. A wall collapsed in Sargodha, killing one woman and injuring 10 people, while three are injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
More than 100 people have been killed in a powerful quake which has hit northeastern Afghanistan and Pakistan. A few people say it was a glacier that came down, a few people say it was a hill.
The 7.6-magnitude quake triggered a landslide in mountainous region of Gilgit in northern Pakistan.
The remote location of the epicentre, part of the Hindu Kush near the Tajikistan and Pakistan borders, could be a blessing – though it also means the exact number of casualties may take days to emerge as communications are poor.
He did not provide further details.
He also called on officials to be prepared for aftershocks.
In the northern valley of Swat, at least 35 people were killed, local officials said.
The Afghan provinces of Nangarhar and Takhar were hit hard.
The natural disaster comes six months after a devastating quake in Nepal killed thousands of people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes. Twelve young girls were trampled in a stampede while trying to descend the stairs and evacuate their school in the Takhar Province.
The country’s capital city Kabul experienced a brief power-cut, while houses shook and cars rolled into the streets.
The quake’s epicenter was at a depth of 213.5 kilometers (132.7 miles). There were no immediate reports of major damage.
Strong tremors were felt in Kabul, New Delhi and Islamabad.
The quake was also felt in the Indian capital New Delhi, where no immediate damage was reported, and in Kashmir, where buildings and bridges were cracked. Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper, reported at least 12 deaths in the affected parts of the country.
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The extent of damage and casualties was not immediately clear.
