Deadliest-ever earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale on Saturday morning killed over 2,500 and scores received injuries across Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, erasing to ground many villages in Mansehra, Haripur, Muzaffarabad and elsewhere. The death toll from the earthquake was expected to climb further.
Inter-Services Public Relations director-general Major General Shaukat Sultan said "deaths could be running in the thousands" nation-wide, as rescue teams were airlifted into the worst affected areas where roads had been cut off by landslides.
A military spokesman said that altogether about 200 soldiers were killed in the hardest-hit areas.
The earthquake struck at 8:50am and was centred in forest-clad mountains of Azad Kashmir about 95km north-east of Islamabad.
The first quake was followed by 18 aftershocks, which had magnitudes of between 4.6 and 6.3 over the next 10 hours.
They were felt across the subcontinent, shaking buildings in the Afghan, Indian and Bangladeshi capitals.
The US Geological Survey described the quake as major, saying it took place at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles).
Ghulam Rashool, an official at the Pakistan Meteorological Department, said it was the strongest earthquake in the Subcontinent since the 1905 Kangra earthquake that killed 20,000 people in India's Madhya Pradesh state.
Pledges of international support started to come in within hours, but details of the damage were difficult to obtain because telephone lines were down, mobile networks were overwhelmed and relief efforts were hampered by both landslides and heavy rain.
Volunteers, army personnel and law-enforcement agencies were engaged in recovering the dead and injured from quake-hit areas. The earthquake also hit Lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Kasur, Gujranwala, Quetta and some other cities.
Initial reports said 500 people were killed and 1700 injured in Mansehra alone. The tremor disrupted communication network and supply of electricity to many areas was also suspended.
The biggest challenge is to reach out to quake-struck far-flung areas in NWFP, Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas.
President General Pervez Musharraf clad in uniform and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz expressed heartfelt grief over the tragedy and asked for accelerated rescue and relief operation.
The government announced Rs 1 billion for relief work and the President and Prime Minister Relief Cells were also set up.
According to interior minister Aftab Ahmed Kahn Sherpao, 11 deaths were confirmed while as many as 73 injured were recovered from a collapsed portion of ten-storey residential plaza, Margalla Towers. Some 200 residents were still trapped in debris. An Egyptian embassy official and two Japanese were also killed, reports said. However, it could not be verified.
Massive rescue and relief operation, though belated, was under way in various parts of NWFP, Punjab, Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir.
Aftershocks continued to hit various parts of the country till filing of this report. Landslides forced closure of parts of Karakorum highway and roads in Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas.
It was learnt that 80 percent government and private buildings, including hospitals in Muzaffarabad were either damaged or completely destroyed.
Reports pouring in from various sources said, in Mansehra, Abbottabad, Muzaffarabad, Bagh and Rawalkot alone, over 600 were feared dead.
The meteorological department said aftershocks may continue for another 48 hours but with less intensity. Employees at the government and private offices came out in the open and some stayed there till the office time was over.
Many panicky residents in Islamabad and Rawalpindi spent entire day under the sun and did Iftari away from their houses.
Interior minister Sherpao was the first to reach the Margalla Towers. Later, he accompanied President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Aziz, earlier, had an aerial view of the tragedy-hit locality in posh F-10.
In a space of six years, this was the second major challenge posed to the Islamabad Capital Territory administration. A multi-story building, Shaheed-e-Millat secretariat that housed several government offices had caught fire few years back and it could not be extinguished.
Likewise, there was no proper equipment and trained manpower to timely handle the situation and carry out rescue operation following the collapse of Towers. A visit of the affected locality revealed volunteers were keener for early rescue of the trapped, desperately crying people for help. Two copies of Holy Quran were also recovered undamaged during the activity.
An eyewitness told this correspondent that with the collapse, thick sheet of dust and dirt engulfed entire locality for some time. Dozens of cars parked in the basement were crushed under the debris. The nearby portion of the Towers have also developed cracks and could collapse any time.
Nine persons died in Murree and adjoining localities while seven girls were injured when a school wall collapsed in Rawalpindi while one person was buried in debris elsewhere in the city.
The quake was so intense that it caused cracks in the parliament house that was evacuated immediately after prorogation of the session. Likewise, a report said the tremor also caused damage to the Prime Minister secretariat.
The Senate that met 35 minutes behind schedule was prorogued sine die after the treasury and opposition wanted to get involved in relief operations.
Leader of the House Wasim Sajjad endorsed proposal by opposition Leader Mian Raza Rabbani that since a tragedy of great magnitude had hit the country, there was no reason continuing proceedings. Some other senators also spoke and supported the proposal. The next session of the Senate is expected in the second week of November.
According to reports the worst affected areas of the NWFP were Mansehra, Batagram, Kohistan, Abbottabad and Swat districts.
About 400 school children were killed in Mansehra district when a quake struck the region and their schools collapsed, police said.
"Three-hundred-and-fifty school children have been killed in a school in Mansehra district and 50 were killed in another school in the same district," said provincial police chief Riffat Pashar.
"The situation is very bad, the figure has gone to about 1,000 feared dead in North West Frontier province," he said.
In most of the areas the communication system has been completely collapsed. Eight persons have been discharged from Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) after providing them first aid.
"About 80 unconfirmed casualties have been reported from Mansehra where hundreds of mud-built as well as cemented buildings have been collapsed," said Asif Iqbal Daudzai, NWFP information minister while addressing a press conference here at the media centre of the directorate of information.
He said the meeting of the provincial cabinet, which was held with Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani in the chair, has also expressed deep sorrow over the loss of precious lives in the earthquake.
The provincial cabinet also offered Fateha for the eternal peace of the departed souls and prayed to Allah almighty for protection of the human lives.
He said shocks of the quake have been felt in the whole country, whose epicentre was in Northern Areas. "The worst hit areas, he said, were Kohistan, Mansehra and Batagram districts," the minister added, saying due to landslide roads have been closed down and the communication system had also went out of order.
He said the provincial government was constantly in touch with the administration of affected areas and was collecting first-hand information.
"The chief minister himself visited Mansehra district," he disclosed. Similarly, he said, a high-level meeting has also been held to chalk out a programme on how to launch relief operation in affected areas.
According to reports, he said more than 30 children have received minor injuries in schools in Charsadda district while 17 injured have been discharged after receiving first aid at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ), Mardan.
He said that a girl student of a college in Khwazakhela in Swat district died due to cardiac arrest. There are also reports of two casualties from Madian (Swat) and six in Shangla district.
The earthquake caused panic in Rawalpindi city as people rushed out of their houses.
The wall of Girls School at Railway Workshop road collapsed killing a 7th class student, Farah, besides injuring six other students: Bushra, Faiza, Ayesha, Amna, Fatima and Fatima Altaf.
Many buildings of the city were also damaged including AWT Towers at The Mall, Poonch house, four school buildings. The AWT Towers were evacuated immediately after early jolts and heavy cracks were seen in the building.
Askari Commercial Bank senior vice president Tariq Mehmood told Business Recorder there was no major damage to the building structure and from Monday offices in the building would be opened.
Multi-storied Poonch House was also evacuated but residents living in 48-residential flats of the Towers were reluctant to enter the building where cracks were visible.
People of Multan experienced severe jolts and terrified people came out of their homes to save their lives. The jerks were also felt in Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur divisions. Met office Multan was unable to measures the intensity of the earthquake and its centre.
"A school girl has died and another 16 injured when a roof of primary school collapsed in a suburb village of Taunsa Sharif while many mud houses razed to ground," Dera Ghazi Khan DPO Salman Chaudhry told this correspondent.
Leiah and Bhakkar police have confirmed the death of one person each in their districts and said many more injured due to collapsing of mud houses.
"At least dozens of women workers of a textiles mill wounded in a stampede created when a strong quake hits Kharianwala, Faisalabad on Saturday," police said.
The injured were rushed to Kharianwala social security hospital where a woman was reported in critical condition. People still gathering in open areas and grounds due to quake fear.
Meteorological department director-general Dr Qamaruz Zaman Chaudhry on Saturday advised people to stay away from unsafe, tall and stone-made buildings in the next couple of days.
Talking to Pakistan Television, the DG said aftershock effects of the earthquake would continue in next couple of days so people should avoid to go in unsafe, tall and stone made buildings.
He added although magnitude of the earthquake expected in next couple of days would be around five to six on Richter scale.
He said earthquake magnitude according to preliminary estimate was 7.5 on Richter scale, adding the centre of the earthquake was 100km north of Islamabad.
Dr Qamaruz Zaman said earthquake of such intensity was a record in 100 years in the area. "We can call it a major earthquake in the area," he added.