September 24 (CBS News) – A powerful 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck northeast Pakistan on Tuesday, damaging dozens of homes and shops and killing at least 19 people and injuring over 300, officials said. According to state-run Pakistan Television, four children were among the dead in Mirpur, a town in the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir.
Raja Qaiser, a deputy commissioner in the region, said rescuers were still transporting victims to hospitals in the city, where an emergency was declared.
He said a main road near Mirpur was also badly damaged, causing accidents and damaging buses and other vehicles.
The quake’s epicenter was close to the city of Mirpur, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Photos circulating on social media show a huge crack on a main road in the area, and partially destroyed houses.
The full extent of the damage is not yet known. Thousands of people died in a powerful quake in the area in 2005.
“The quake was 10km (six miles) deep… The worst hit was Mirpur,” Pakistan’s chief meteorologist, Muhammad Riaz, told the AFP news agency.
Children are among the dead, reports say.
Pakistan’s military said “aviation and medical support” teams had been dispatched to the area.
After Tuesday’s earthquake, tremors were felt as far away as the capitals of Pakistan and India, Islamabad and Delhi respectively.
