A major earthquake struck the isolated Afghan northeast on Monday, killing more than 200 people in Afghanistan and nearby northern Pakistan, injuring hundreds and transfer shock waves as far as New Delhi, officials said.
The death toll could climb in coming days because communications were down in much of the rugged Hindu Kush mountain range where the quake was centred.
Shockwaves were felt in New Delhi in northern India and across northern Pakistan, where hundreds of people ran out of buildings as the ground rolled beneath them. No deaths were reported in India.
The quake was 213 km (132 miles) deep and centred 254 km (158 miles) northeast of Kabul in Badakhshan province. The U.S. Geological Survey initially measured the magnitude at 7.7, then revised it down to 7.5.
Just over a decade ago, a 7.6 magnitude quake in another part of northern Pakistan killed about 75,000 people.
In Afghanistan, where rescue and relief work is likely to be complicated by security threats created by an escalating Taliban insurgency, at least 52 people were reported dead in several provinces.
In addition to the 12 schoolgirls in Takhar, officials said seven people died in the eastern province of Nangarhar, two in Nuristan province in the northeast, 22 in eastern Kunar province and nine in Badakhshan, where hundreds were killed in mudslides last year.
Hundreds of houses were also destroyed, creating additional hardship, with cold weather setting in.
In Afghanistan, international aid agencies working in northern areas reported that cell phone coverage in the affected areas remained down in the hours after the initial quake.
The Hindu Kush mountain region is seismically active, with earthquakes the result of the Indian subcontinent driving into and under the Eurasian landmass. Sudden tectonic shifts can cause enormous and destructive releases of energy.
12 schoolgirls killed S. Asia quake
At least a dozen schoolgirls were trampled to death in the remote northern Afghan province of Takhar, in the most horrifying tragedy to emerge so far from a quake that rocked parts of South Asia Monday, killing at least 180 people.
Bystanders rushed the dazed and terrified girls to hospital, many lying limp in the arms of their rescuers, after a deadly stampede broke out as the students tried to flee their classrooms as the quake hit.
“The students rushed to escape the school building in Taluqan city after the terrifying quake, triggering a stampede,” Takhar education department chief Enayat Naweed told AFP.
The twelve students of Bibi Hajra high school killed were all under 16.
“When the aggrieved relatives of the dead students came to collect their bodies, they were so distressed that they could not even talk to authorities to record their names,” said Hafizullah Safai, head of the Takhar health department.
The powerful 7.5 magnitude quake struck Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region and was felt across parts of South Asia, with fears the death toll could rise substantially.
Afghan officials have so far confirmed 33 fatalities in the provinces of Badakhshan, where the epicentre in located, as well as in Takhar, Nagarhar and Baghlan.
Given the difficulty in accessing most of these areas because of the rugged terrain, it could be days before the full impact of the quake is known.
“Phone lines are down and communication has been cut off in many areas,” said Afghanistan’s chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, adding that the quake was the strongest in felt in recent decades.
Officials in Nangarhar said people were trapped under debris in some districts of the volatile province, known as a hotbed for Islamic State insurgents.
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