Authorities said Monday's quake damaged 8,453 homes and 113 schools in Pakistan's impoverished northwest.
Rescuers in Afghanistan and Pakistan are struggling to reach regions stricken by the magnitude-7.5 quake, which was centered in Afghanistan's sparsely populated Badakhshan province that borders Pakistan, Tajikistan and China. The quake left at least 258 people dead in Pakistan, 115 in Afghanistan and three on the Indian side of the disputed region of Kashmir.
Casualty figures are likely to leap once relief workers return from remote villages that can be accessed only by foot or donkey.
The earthquake, with its epicenter close to the Badakhshan district of Jarm, damaged many of the few existing roads, officials said. Dropping aid by air will be the only way to reach many of the needy, but those operations are not likely to start for many days, until survey teams on foot return and report on the damage.
The Pakistani town closest to the epicenter is Chitral, and one of the worst-affected towns is Shangla, where 70-year-old Zurqun Nain said his extended family was living at a relatives' home after the quake damaged his house. "I had my own home before the earthquake. Now I am homeless at this old age," he said.
Another resident, Said Alam, said his family was still waiting for government help.
Monday's quake shook buildings in the capital, Islamabad, and cities elsewhere in Pakistan and Afghanistan for up to 45 seconds in the early afternoon, creating cracks in walls and causing blackouts.
The earthquake destroyed more than 7,600 homes across Afghanistan and injured 558 people, according to a statement from President Ashraf Ghani's office after he had met with disaster management officials. He ordered the military to make assets available for the relief effort.
Badakhshan Gov. Shah Waliullah Adeeb said more than 1,500 houses there were either destroyed or partially destroyed. The province's casualty figures of 11 dead and 25 injured "will rise by the end of the day, once the survey teams get to the remote areas and villages," Adeeb said.
Food and other essentials were ready to go, he said, but "getting there is not easy." Many people in stricken areas were sleeping outdoors, braving freezing temperatures for fear of aftershocks.
Afghan authorities said they were scrambling to access the hardest-hit areas near the epicenter, located 73 kilometers (45 miles) south of Fayzabad, the capital of Badakhshan province.
Badakhshan is one of the poorest areas of Afghanistan and frequently hit by floods, snowstorms and mudslides. Its valleys and mountains make access to many areas by road almost impossible at the best of times. It often has big earthquakes, but casualty figures are usually low because it is so sparsely populated, with fewer than 1 million people.
The Taliban issued a statement calling on all Afghans "not to hold back in providing shelter, food and medical supplies" to earthquake victims and said its fighters would also lend a hand.
The insurgents, fighting to overthrow the Kabul government for 14 years, have built a presence in northern provinces this year, notably in Badakhshan. Some districts, including Jarm, have been seized briefly by Taliban gunmen. Officials have said it is part of their strategy to take control of strategically insignificant areas to force the Afghan government to spread its military resources ever-thinner in the fight to defeat the insurgency.
In Pakistan, the picturesque Swat Valley and areas around Dir, Malakand and Shangla towns in the mountains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were hard-hit by the earthquake. Officials said 202 of the dead were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
More than 2,000 people were injured in Monday's temblor, which also damaged more than 4,000 homes in Pakistan, officials said.
Pakistan's military said in a statement that engineers succeeded in reopening portions of the Karakoram Highway blocked by landslides caused by the quake. It allowed authorities to begin transporting relief supplies to affected areas in the northern regions, where dozens were killed and hundreds of others left homeless.
Helicopters and military planes were transporting relief supplies and military engineers were working on restoring communication lines disrupted by landslides, said Lt. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa, the army spokesman.
A magnitude-7.6 quake hit Pakistan on Oct. 8, 2005, killing more than 80,000 people and leaving more than 3 million homeless, most of them in the northwest of the country and in the divided region of Kashmir.
That quake was much shallower — 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the surface of the earth, compared to the depth of 213 kilometers (130 miles) on Monday — and thus caused greater damage, said Mohammad Hanif, an official at the Meteorological Department.
In the Swat Valley town of Mingora, resident Jamal Ali Shah said the earthquake "was like the day of judgment." He sobbed as he sat outside his damaged home with his belongings around him, fearing the building would collapse in an aftershock.
In Peshawar, Asghar Ali said his 55-year-old father was walking in the street Monday when bricks from a building hit him in the head.
"People tried to take my father to the hospital but there was a chaos everywhere and traffic was blocked," he said. "My father died before he could be taken to the hospital."
Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited the earthquake-hit town of Shangla in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where at least 49 people were killed and 80 injured. He said his government would soon announce a relief package to help quake victims.
In Afghanistan's Takhar province, 12 students at a girls' school were killed in a stampede as they fled a shaking building.
Sonatullah Taimor, a spokesman for the governor of Takhar province, said so far authorities had recorded 14 deaths, including the schoolgirls. More than 50 were injured and 200 houses destroyed. He said food, blankets and tents were in short supply, though people had been warned to sleep outside — in near-freezing temperatures — in case of aftershocks.
(AP)
Villagers stand around the covered bodies, during the funeral ceremony of people who were killed by an earthquake in Takhar province, northeast of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Rescuers were struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday as officials said the combined death toll from the previous day's earthquake rose to more than 300.
A Pakistani boy walks past a house collapsed by an earthquake in Qabal, near Mingora in Swat valley, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistani residents stand over debris of their house collapsed by an earthquake in Qabal near Mingora in Swat valley, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistani boy Rizwan Ullah, who was injured in an earthquake, rests at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A Pakistani soldier loads relief goods on a truck for earthquake victims, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A Pakistani girl collects household items after her home was damaged from an earthquake in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistani girl Laiba, 6, waits for treatment at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
People injured in an earthquake rest at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A family member comforts an injured boy at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A man reads newspapers carrying headlines regarding yesterday's earthquake, display at a news stand in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistani soldiers load relief goods to a plane for earthquake victims, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
An injured boy rests at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
People look at a house damaged by massive earthquake in Mingora, the main town of Swat valley, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Afghan men carry their belongings after an earthquake in Takhar province, northeast of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Rescuers were struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday as officials said the combined death toll from the previous day's earthquake rose to more than 300.
Pakistani soldiers help a man who was injured in Monday's deadly earthquake after he was evacuated to Peshawar airbase in Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday as officials said the combined death toll from the previous day's earthquake rose to hundreds.
People who were injured in Monday's deadly earthquake arrive at Peshawar airbase in Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday as officials said the combined death toll from the previous day's earthquake rose to hundreds.
Pakistani soldiers move an injured woman to an ambulance after she was airlifted from Chitral, at Peshawar airbase in Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday as officials said the combined death toll from the previous day's earthquake rose to hundreds.
Pakistani soldiers move an injured child to an ambulance after being airlifted from Chitral, at Peshawar airbase in Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday as officials said the combined death toll from the previous day's earthquake rose to hundreds.
A Pakistani mother sits in an ambulance with her children, who were injured in Monday's deadly earthquake, after they were airlifted from Chitral, at Peshawar airbase in Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday as officials said the combined death toll from the previous day's earthquake rose to hundreds.
A Pakistani boy examines a house damaged caused by massive earthquake in Mingora, the main town of Swat valley, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Afghan men offer funeral prayers in front of the bodies of killed people by earthquake in Chawkay district of Kunar Province east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Rescuers were struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday as officials said the combined death toll from the previous day's earthquake rose to more than 300 people.
A boy collects fixtures from a house damaged from a massive earthquake in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A man removes his belongings from a house damaged by massive earthquake in Mingora, the main town of Swat valley, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Afghan men carry their belongings after an earthquake in Takhar province, northeast of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Rescuers were struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday as officials said the combined death toll from the previous day's earthquake rose to more than 300.
A Pakistani boy examines a house damaged caused by massive earthquake in Mingora, the main town of Swat valley, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Officials say rescuers are struggling to reach quake-stricken regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.