On Wednesday Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan province was hit by a powerful earthquake that killed nearly 20 people.
The earthquake was of 5.9 magnitudes and shook sleeping residents at around 03:00 local time (22:00 GMT Wednesday), destroying dozens of mud houses.
Numerous people were injured, the majority belong from the Harnai district east of the provincial capital, Quetta.
However, Prime Minister Imran Khan has sent his condolences and offered help and compensation.
Among the people who died included a number of women and children – reports said.
According to the US Geological Survey said the seismic activity had struck at a shallow depth of 9km, hence causing more damage.
Rescue operations began immediately while the local media reported that military doctors and paramedics had reached the worst-hit areas.
The worst affected region would be the Harnai district which is about 100km (60 miles) east of Quetta.
Harnai farmer Rafiullah told Agence France-Presse the quake had knocked him unconscious.
“When I regained consciousness, I pulled out two of my sons,” he said, but his youngest boy, aged about one, had been struck by a wooden beam and had died.
Furthermore, the affected area also has a variety of coal mines that are exposed to collapse. There are reports at least one was badly affected.
As per the information provided by the local officials about 150 people were believed to have been injured. Some people were even rushed to hospitals by army helicopters in Quetta, who was in critical condition.
Many others were treated on stretchers by the medics with the help of phones and torches, Reuters reported.
Hundreds of people have been left homeless as their mud houses collapsed in the disaster.
Rahamatullah, a villager told AFP an aftershock struck around two hours after the main quake and “nobody dared to go inside his home… people stayed out of their house for the rest of the night”.
