Afghan officials said at least 115 people were confirmed dead and hundreds more injured, with casualties reported from about half a dozen of the country’s 34 provinces.
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Afghanistan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah said 76 people had been killed and 268 injured in his country.
The death toll could climb in coming days, amid fears that many more people may have been killed but not yet been accounted for due to broken communications in the Hindu Kush mountain range where the quake was centered.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was chairing an emergency high-level meeting to review the situation in the country and the progress of relief efforts in the aftermath of the devastating quake that jolted the northern areas of Pakistan the previous day.
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has expressed his sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims.
In other remote areas residents-including children and the elderly-were helping with relief work, many of them digging through rubble for survivors.
– The quake happened at a depth of 213.5 kilometres (132 miles), much deeper than a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck Pakistan in 2005 killing more than 7,500 people and displacing a few 3.5 million. The epicenter of Monday’s quake was in the rural Badakhsan province, vast swathes of which are still controlled by the Taliban.
The Taliban on Tuesday ordered its Mujahideen to provide help for those affected by Monday’s natural disaster, and asked rescuer workers to “not hold back” on bringing aid to victims.
– The epicentre of the quake was located in Badakhshan. It also suffers from floods, snowstorms and mudslides.
The tremors were also felt in India and China.
“Last night was very hard for us”, said Mushta Aziz, a shopkeeper and father of two from Gilgit, a city in northern Pakistan about 100 miles from the border with Tajikistan. He was briefed about the damages caused by the natural disaster. “We are just praying”.
Monday’s initial quake of magnitude 7.5 was followed by seven aftershocks, of intensity ranging as high as 4.8, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
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India, Iran and United States forces in Afghanistan have all offered help, but so far the local authorities have not requested assistance.
