Massive quake strikes wide area in Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake rocked large swaths of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan on Saturday, and Pakistan’s army said initial reports indicate the damage was widespread in that country.

At least 29 people were believed killed in Pakistan, and dozens more were feared trapped in the rubble of a 19-story apartment building in Islamabad.

The U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site the quake hit at 8:50 a.m. local time and had a magnitude of 7.6. It was centered 58 miles north-northeast of Islamabad at a depth of just six miles.

The quake badly damaged a village near Balakot, a scenic town about 180 miles northeast of Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, regional police chief Ataullah Wazir said. Local media reports said many homes in Balakot had collapsed.

Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the spokesman for Pakistan’s army, said troops and helicopters were dispatched to conduct rescue operations.

“We have received news of widespread damage in Pakistan’s northern areas, Kashmir and other parts of the country,” he said.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara said the quake was felt at Bagram, the main American base in Afghanistan, but he had no reports of damage there or at other bases around the country.