Pakistan rescuers pull 175 bodies from quake rubble

WAM, Pakistan (Reuters) - About 175 people were killed when a powerful earthquake hit the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan on Wednesday, flattening about 1,500 mud-walled homes and triggering landslides, officials said.

The epicenter of Wednesday's quake was in Ziarat district, a scenic valley and one of the main tourist spots in Baluchistan.

Chief district administrator Dilawar Khan said 170 people had been killed in that district and 350 injured.

"The rescue operation is over. We've retrieved all bodies and the injured. Now the problem is relief as there's a shortage of tents, blankets and food while the weather is getting cold," Khan told Reuters.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.4 magnitude quake struck 60 km (40 miles) northeast of the provincial capital, Quetta.

Pakistan's Meteorological Department put the magnitude at 6.5 and said the quake, at the shallow depth of about 10 km (six miles), struck at 5.10 a.m. (2310 GMT on Tuesday).

About 20 aftershocks, the biggest of 6.2 magnitude, caused more damage and rattled the nerves of survivors as they scoured the rubble for loved ones.

"The village has been flattened. You can't see a house still standing. There's destruction everywhere," said Abdul Rahim Ziyawal, a rescue worker in Wam, one of the worst-hit villages where authorities were using excavators to dig mass graves.

Pakistan is no stranger to natural disasters. In October 2005, about 73,000 people were killed when a 7.6 magnitude quake hit northern mountains. Last year, the worst floods on record in Baluchistan killed hundreds.

Khan said most people in the hilly Ziarat district, which has a population of about 50,000, were sleeping out, either because their homes were destroyed or damaged, or because aftershocks left them too sacred to sleep inside.

LANDSLIDES

The quake triggered landslides that destroyed some houses and blocked roads, complicating search and relief operations.

The army had sent helicopters and a medical team and paramilitary troops had joined the search for survivors.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sent two teams to the area. "Aftershocks have continued which we think will force the population to stay outside, and the weather is cold," said ICRC spokeswoman Carla Haddad.

Another five people were killed in neighboring Pishin district, to the north of Quetta, district government officials said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was sending two truckloads of essential medicines and supplies for 50,000 people for three months to Ziarat and Pishin.

"Accessibility to health services, exposure to cold weather and access to safe food and water are major health concerns facing the at least 20,000 people displaced by today's magnitude 6.4 earthquake," it said in a statement.

In Wam, villager Mohammad Aleem said his two brothers and a sister-in-law had been killed and he was looking for other relatives.

"I don't know who's survived and who's died. I'm still searching," said Aleem as he clawed through rubble with bare hands.

The head of a national disaster management team, Farooq Ahmed Khan, said about 300 rescue workers had reached Ziarat. Tents, blankets and clothing were being flown in.

CAVED IN

The Meteorological Department said two tremors had struck before dawn, with the second, bigger one coming about 35 minutes after the first.

"There were two jolts. The first was mild but I made my family get out and then the roof of my house caved in with the strong one," said Khadija, a 50-year-old woman in Wam, still quivering with shock.

In 1935, about 30,000 people were killed and Quetta was largely destroyed by a severe earthquake.

Large parts of south Asia are seismically active because a tectonic plate, known as the Indian plate, is pushing north into the Eurasian plate.

Baluchistan is Pakistan's largest province but its most thinly populated. It has the country's biggest reserves of natural gas but there were no reports of damage to gas facilities.

(Additional reporting by Gul Yousafzai, Zeeshan Haider, Kamran Haider, Augustine Anthony and Aftab Borka and Jonathan Lynn in Geneva; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)