QUETTA: In a rare development, an island emerged off Gwadar coast after a powerful earthquake of 7.7 magnitude struck Pakistan on Tuesday.
According to DIG Gwadar Moazzam Jah, the island's altitude is 20 to 40 feet and width around 100 feet.
Talking to Geo news, the DIG said that the island emerged at a distance of 350 feet in the sea from the Gwadar coast.
According to the Meteorological Department, the epicentre of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake was 120Km southwest of Khuzdar in Balochistan province at a depth of 10 kilometres. The US Geological Survey measured the earthquake at 7.8.
Earthquake in western Pakistan kills 45 and creates island off coast
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake in a remote part of western Pakistan on Tuesday killed at least 45 people and prompted a new island to rise from the sea just off the country's southern coast.
Tremors were felt hundreds of miles away in the Indian capital, Delhi, where buildings shook, as well as in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.
The US Geological Survey said the quake hit 145 miles south-east of Dalbandin in the quake-prone province of Baluchistan, which borders Iran.
The earthquake was so powerful that it caused the seabed to rise and create a small, mountain-like island about 600 metres off the Gwadar coastline.
Local officials said scores of mud houses were destroyed by aftershocks in the thinly populated mountainous area near the epicentre. Abdul Qadoos, deputy speaker of the Baluchistan assembly, told Reuters that at least 30% of houses in the impoverished Awaran district had collapsed.
The local deputy commissioner in Awaran, Abdul Rasheed Gogazai, and the spokesman of Pakistan's Frontier Corps involved in the rescue effort said at least 45 people had been killed.
In the regional capital of Quetta, officials said some areas appeared to be badly damaged but it was hard to assess the impact immediately owing to the remoteness of the affected locations.
Chief secretary Babar Yaqoob said earlier that 25 people had been injured and that the death toll was expected to increase as many people appeared to be trapped inside their collapsed homes.
Local television reported that helicopters carrying relief supplies had been dispatched to the affected area. The army said it had deployed 200 troops to help deal with the disaster.
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
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