A powerful earthquake rockedsouthwest Pakistan today, sending panicked people rushing fromtheir homes in fear of their lives and being felt as far away as India and the Gulf.The 7.2 magnitude quake struck at 1:23 am (0153 IST),around 50 kilometres west of the town of Dalbandin, close tothe border with Afghanistan, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
Television footage showed terrified people fleeing their houses in cold conditions, reciting verses from the Koran. Rescue services said that they were on alert after the quake in the sparsely populated area but had received no emergency calls and there were no initial reports of casualties. Strong tremors were felt as far away as the Indian capital New Delhi, around 1,300 kilometres away, as well as several other cities across northwestern India, though there were no reports of any damage.
Data on the USGS website suggested the quake had also been felt across in Abu Dabhi and Dubai.
The USGS said the quake had a magnitude of 7.2 and hitat a depth of 84 kilometres, revising down an earlier reportof 7.4-magnitude.
The initial bulletin from USGS said the earthquake hitjust 10 kilometres below the surface. At that depth, quakescan cause major destruction and loss of life.
Pakistan''s Meteorological Department gave a magnitudeof 7.3 and located the epicentre 55 kilometres northwest of Kharan, a town in the thinly populated southwestern Baluchistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan.
The earthquake occurred at around 1:23 am and it wasfelt in Balochistan, Sindh and southern Punjab provinces.
