国际英语资讯:21 killed, over 320 injured as earthquake jolts parts of Pakistan_时事

国际英语资讯:21 killed, over 320 injured as earthquake jolts parts of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 24 -- Rescue efforts are in progress after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Pakistan, leaving 21 people killed and over 320 injured, police said.

The worst-affected area was Mirpur district of the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir where 20 people lost their lives and over 300 others wounded while one woman was killed and 20 others injured in neighboring Jhelum district of the country’s eastern Punjab province, police officers of the respective districts told local media.

Deputy Inspector General of Police in Mirpur district of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir Sardar Gulfaraz said that at least eight people died in the city area while 12 others including two children lost lives in Jatlan, a town in Mirpur district. Gulfaraz feared that the death toll might further rise as scores of others have been buried under the debris in the town.

The Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of Pakistan army, said that an immediate rescue operation in aid of civil administration for victims of the earthquake has been started as army troops with aviation and medical support teams reached the affected areas.

Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lt. General Muhammad Afzal said that rescue teams equipped with special gadgets to trace trapped people under the debris have reached the affected areas and started work.

The chairman told a press conference in Islamabad that food items, medicines, quilts, tents and generators have been sent to the affected areas, adding that they are preparing to protect the displaced people from the coming rain spell.