Powerful quake rocks northeast

Hundreds are feared dead and scores injured after a powerful earthquake ripped through northeastern Pakistan on Saturday. Preliminary reports indicate wide scale damage in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, with officials warning of higher casualties to follow. "At the moment, information is just coming in and we have yet to determine the true scale of the disaster," Marie-Francoise Borel, a spokeswoman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) told IRIN from Geneva, noting, however, assessment teams were on the ground. "We hope to have further information soon so that we can respond accordingly," Borel said. Measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, Saturday's quake struck at 08:50 local time, approximately 95 km north/northeast of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Early reports, however, indicate the quake was felt across a vast swathe of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, with particular intensity in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, northern Pakistan and central Punjab, including the capital and the western city of Lahore. Government official have described the situation as a national crisis. While damage to the capital was limited, speaking to reporters outside a multistory apartment block that had collapsed in Islamabad, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Serpao told Pakistan's private GEO TV that hundreds had been killed and many villages wiped out. But it was the situation in Pakistan's mountainous northern areas and Kashmir which was most worrying. By midday powerful images of widespread devastation appeared on Pakistani TV, indicating significant damage to Muzaffarbad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, as well as the towns of Abbotabad, Mansehra, Swat and Gilgit. Communication throughout much of the region had been knocked out, making an accurate assessment of the disaster difficult. Major-General Shaukat Sultan, a spokesman for Pakistan's armed forces told the BBC there had been massive landslides caused by the quake, some of which had "completely wiped" out certain villages, adding many hospitals and schools had been damaged. "The landslides have also blocked rivers, resulting in flooding in some areas," Sultan added. According to a US Embassy statement issued after the quake, the full impact of the disaster was still being determined, but it was clear that there would be need for emergency relief and goods and services both in rural and urban areas. The US military has offered assistance to their Pakistani counterparts to provide appropriate supplies and assistance for relief efforts. In addition, the Ministry of Interior Air Wing, a joint US-Pakistan programme, has also been authorised to provide helicopters for aerial relief support. Seismic activity is common in the volatile Hindu Kush Mountains of the region, but Saturday's quake was reportedly the strongest in years.