Quake shakes Pakistan but damage seems limited

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.2 shook southwestern Pakistan early Wednesday, jolting residents of cities as far apart as Delhi and Dubai, but the epicentre was far from major population centres.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was more than 80 km underground, close to the town of Dalbandin in Baluchistan province, near the Afghan and Iranian frontiers.

Poor communications ensured there were no immediate reports from the vicinity of the quake, but despite the major strength of the shock, the great depth may have limited damage. The USGS had first said that the earthquake was very much shallower.

In the major Pakistani port of Karachi, 400 km away, people woke and rushed out of their homes after the tremors hit at 1:23 a.m. (8:23 p.m. British time on Tuesday). The authorities there had no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

In an ominous indication of problems for the small towns and villages of Baluchistan, however, people in India's border province of Rajasthan said cracks appeared in the walls of rural dwellings. The simple structures common in the area closest to the quake may fare badly under the strains of major tremors.

The USGS said the epicentre was 55 km west of Dalbandin, a town of about 15,000 people, and at a depth of 83 km.

The Pacific Tsunami Centre said the onshore quake had not triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

A major quake of this magnitude, if at a shallow depth and close to population centres, is capable of causing widespread and heavy damage. Pakistan is still reeling from devastating floods last year that left more than 10 million people homeless.

In 2005, a 7.6 magnitude quake 95 km northeast of the Pakistani capital Islamabad killed over 70,000 people.

(Additional reporting by Faisal Aziz in Karachi, C.J. Kuncheria in New Delhi and Sandra Maler in Washington; Writing by Alastair Macdonald in London)

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