Death toll from Afghanistan quake mounts to 180, Pakistan severely hit

KABUL/PESHAWAR (Pakistan): A 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck a remote area of northeastern Afghanistan on Monday, shaking the capital Kabul and killing 180 people - 147 in Pakistan and 33 in Afghanistan - and injuring 1,000 others, officials said. The death toll could climb in coming days because communications were down in much of the rugged Hindu Kush mountain range area where the quake was centred. In one of the worst incidents, 12 girls were killed in a stampede to get out of their school in the northeastern Afghan province of Takhar. "They fell under the feet of other students," said Abdul Razaq Zinda, provincial head of the Afghan National Disaster Management Agency, who reported heavy damage in Takhar. Shockwaves were felt in northern India and in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, where hundreds of people ran out of buildings as the ground rolled beneath them. TOI