As the death toll passed 376, rescuers struggled to reach those affected by the massive quake. It said the quake was 120 miles deep and centred 51 miles south-east of Feyzabad in a remote northern area of Afghanistan in the Hindu Kush mountain range.
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Afghanistan has reported 115 dead and 556 wounded, while three people died on the Indian side of the disputed region of Kashmir.
Casualty figures are likely to leap once relief workers return from remote villages that can be accessed only by foot or donkey. Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervez Rashid also accompanied the prime minister. “I had my own home before the quake. Now I am homeless at this old age”, he said.
Another resident, Said Alam, said his family was still waiting for government help.
The 7.5-magnitude quake hit north-eastern Afghanistan and north-western Pakistan yesterday afternoon.
More than 2,000 people were injured in Monday’s temblor, which also damaged more than 4,000 homes in Pakistan, officials said. Upon arrival he summoned a meeting to discuss relief efforts in the aftermath of the quake.
The US Geological Survey originally said the quake had a 7.7 magnitude, but later downgraded it to 7.5. Food and other essentials were ready to go, he said, but “getting there is not easy”.
129-c-20-(Lynne O’Donnell, AP correspondent)-“we move forward”-AP correspondent Lynne O’Donnell reports Afghan authorities are scrambling to reach the hardest hit area near the epicenter”.
Aid agencies have stressed the need for greater disaster preparedness in war-torn Afghanistan, which remains extremely susceptible to recurring natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and landslides. Its valleys and mountains make access to many areas by road nearly impossible at the best of times. A few districts, including Jarm, have been seized briefly by Taliban gunmen.
Fatima, 80, of Ahangar Mohalla was pronounced dead by doctors as she was taken to district hospital Anantnag, the official said.
Rasheed said that most deaths in Pakistan were reported from the mountainous region of Malakand in the north near the Afghan border. More than 1,000 homes were destroyed and many livestock killed.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday ordered the military to fly Michigan 17 helicopters to the inaccessible areas as more than 2,000 injured people were being treated at hospitals in the north-western province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Dr Ibad, an MNA thanked Prime Minister for visiting the affected areas in the district and hoped the government would announce comprehensive package for the people soon.
Mass burials were being conducted across the country, including those of 12 Afghan schoolgirls who were trampled to death as they rushed to escape their classrooms in Takhar province when the quake struck.
“When the aggrieved relatives of the dead students came to collect their bodies, they were so distressed that they could not even talk to authorities to record their names”, said Hafizullah Safai, head of the Takhar health department.
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