Wednesday 29 October 2008
According to our sources, more than 215 people have died and 15,000 people have been made homeless. Hundreds of children and adults are still trapped in rubble and hundreds are injured.
Save the Children has a team of people on the ground in Pakistan undertaking an emergency assessment to ascertain the scale of the damage in Baluchistan so that we can respond appropriately and quickly.
"Save the Children is working quickly to help children and families affected by the quake. We will be delivering essential emergency kits and launching a fundraising appeal," said Ms Weisbaum, head of emergency response at Save the Children UK. "The initial 48 hours are crucial - it is then that people are most vulnerable and it is then survivors need food, water and shelter. They will be in shock and with the onset of winter; freezing temperatures at night will exacerbate the situation."
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Residents sit outside their homes as an earthquake jolts the city of Quetta October 29, 2008. At least 80 people were killed when a strong earthquake struck southwest Pakistan on Wednesday, bringing down hundreds of houses and the toll was expected to rise, a district official said. REUTERS/Rizwan Saeed
Resident gather around the rubble of a collapsed house after an earthquake in Ziarat, one of the main tourist spot in Baluchistan, October 29, 2008. Pakistani rescuers pulled 160 bodies from the rubble of hundreds of mud-walled homes in the southwestern province of Baluchistan on Wednesday after a powerful earthquake struck, government officials said. REUTERS/ Saeed Ali Achakzai
A man searches for survivors under a collapsed house after an earthquake in Ziarat, one of the main tourist spot in Baluchistan, October 29, 2008. Pakistani rescuers pulled 160 bodies from the rubble of hundreds of mud-walled homes in the southwestern province of Baluchistan on Wednesday after a powerful earthquake struck, government officials said. REUTERS/ Saeed Ali Achakzai