Thousands of Pakistanis Homeless After Quake

Thousands of people are homeless and desperate for aid in southwestern Pakistan following a deadly earthquake centered in neighboring Iran that toppled scores of mud brick homes and killed at least 36 people, officials said Wednesday.

The Pakistani army deployed several hundred soldiers to help the relief effort in Mashkel, the area of Baluchistan province hit hardest by Tuesday’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake. But many residents in Mashkel, where nearly all homes were destroyed, said they were unhappy with the government’s response.

“I appeal to the government. I appeal to the international community to help us with food, medicine, tents and blankets,” Syed Mureed Shah, one of the top officials in surrounding Washak district, told The Associated Press by telephone. “Come and see with your own eyes the damage caused by the earthquake.”

At least 35 people were killed and 150 injured in Pakistan, according to Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority. Iran’s main state media channel said Wednesday that only one person was killed in Iran – a woman struck by falling rocks while she was collecting herbs.

This article appeared in print on page 2 of the April 18th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.