DHAKA: Rescuers in Pakistan are striving to reach victims of a massive earthquake that struck the country`s southwest, killing at least 327 people, wounding more than 500 and flattening thousands of mud-built homes.

The 7.7 magnitude quake struck Balochistan’s Awaran district on Tuesday at 4:29pm local time (11:29 GMT) at a depth of 15km.

‘A total of six districts - Awaran, Kech, Gwadar, Panjgur, Chaghi and Khuzdar - and a population of over 300,000 have been affected by the earthquake,’ Jan Muhammad Buledi, the spokesperson for the Baluchistan government, told media, reports Al Jazeera.

Officials said that many people were still trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

The Pakistani military, meanwhile, has said that it has commenced rescue operations in the area.

Abdul Qadoos, the deputy speaker of the Balochistan provincial assembly, told media that at least 30 percent of houses in the impoverished Awaran district had caved in.

BDST: 1825 HRS, SEPT 25, 2013
RoR/GCP