Iran earthquake kills 34 people in southwest Pakistan

Thirty-four people have been killed and scores injured in southwestern Pakistan after a powerful earthquake hit Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, near the Pakistani border.

The major temblor measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale hit a sparsely populated rural area between the Iranian provincial cities of Saravan and Khash at a depth of 95 kilometers at 3:14 p.m. local time (1044 GMT) on Tuesday.

Saifur Rehman from the Provincial Disaster Management Authority in Quetta, Pakistan’s Baluchistan Province, reported the death toll in the remote area of Mashkail in Washuk district, which lies a few kilometers from the Iranian border.

Rehman said more than 200 others were also injured after more than 1,000 mud homes in the area were damaged because of the quake.

Tuesday’s earthquake was felt across large parts of Pakistan including Islamabad and the country’s largest city, Karachi, where tremors prompted many to rush out of buildings in terror.

The Pakistani army has been sent to the quake-hit area to help with rescue and relief operations.