Aftermath of the Baluchistan earthquake

Agencies

At least 170 people have been killed after a powerful earthquake hit south-west Pakistan, leaving thousands homeless. The death toll is expected to rise.

The aid agency Care International put the death toll at 500-600. Several villages were reduced to rubble. Local television pictures showed lines of bodies in white shrouds with victims' names written on them.

The earthquake struck in the early hours of the morning about 40 miles (60km) north-east of the provincial capital Quetta. There were aftershocks throughout the day including a powerful tremor at about 5.30pm local time.

"We went to a village, Wam, where we saw mass graves being dug," said Hasan Mazumdar, Care International's country director in Pakistan.

"Bodies were still arriving. I estimate that 200 died in that village alone.

"There was a big jolt while we were standing there. The mountains shook. Boulders came crashing down. The people were really scared. They never experienced anything like this. I spoke to a man in his early 30s who had lost four daughters. He was just completely heartbroken."

The earthquake of 2005 in northern Pakistan claimed about 73,000 lives. Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, was flattened in 1935 by an earthquake that killed 30,000.

The Pakistan meteorological department put the magnitude of today's quake at 6.5. The official death toll is around 170 but reports are still coming in from remote areas.

The army has been sent in, bringing tents and blankets flown, but thousands are spending tonight in the open because their homes were destroyed or they are too frightened to go back indoors.

Sub-zero temperatures are expected. Khalil Gill, a worker with Oxfam who was in Quetta, said: "It was very cold this morning, we just ran out, no shoes, no jackets. There was a shock around 8am. This evening was the strongest, the whole town was shaking. Everything shook for about two minutes. We rushed outside. Women and children were crying. We are too frightened to go back into any buildings. We are all spending the night outside."

The former British hilltop resort of Ziarat and around eight surrounding villages were the worst hit. Hundreds of mud and timber houses destroyed, including some buried in landslides triggered by the quake.

"There is great destruction," said Ziarat's mayor, Dilawar Kakar. "Not a single house is intact."

Ziarat is a rural part of an impoverished province. The majority of houses are made of mud, so have little resistance to earth tremors. It is estimated 30,000 people have been affected by the earthquake, with around 15,000 made homeless.

Army helicopters flew in relief supplies but there was limited distribution of aid today, leaving shortages of food, water, blankets and tents.

Baluchistan is Pakistan's largest province geographically but is thinly populated. Pakistani officials said they could manage the situation and did not need international assistance so far.