Still in disaster relief mode from a massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit its southeastern region on Tuesday, another large quake on Saturday, this one reported as between 6.8 and 7.2, has hit the same area.
According to the Associated Press:
A major earthquake rocked Pakistan's southwest Saturday, sending people running into the street in panic just days after another quake in the same region killed 359 people, officials said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said on its website that a 6.8 magnitude quake was felt in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province.
Pakistan's Meteorological Department measured the earthquake at 7.2 magnitude. The department said its epicenter was located about 150 kilometers (90 miles) west of the town of Khuzdar.
New developments were appearing on Twitter:
Tweets about "earthquake pakistan"
And Agence France-Presse reports:
"The death toll is increasing. Rescue workers have so far recovered 22 dead bodies," Hari Fal, the top government official in Khuzdar town told AFP, adding that more than 50 people have been wounded.
Officials fear the toll in Saturday's quake in Awaran, the poorest district in the southwest province of Baluchistan, could still rise further.
The new quake struck the remote district at a depth of 14 kilometres at 12:34 pm (0734 GMT) according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Although USGS said it was an aftershock of the Tuesday 7.7-magnitude quake, an official at the National Seismic Centre of Pakistan classified it as a new earthquake.
"It was not an aftershock, it was an independent earthquake," Zahid Rafi, the centre's director, told Geo TV.
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