A huge earthquake rocked South Asia Friday killing more than 220 people and leaving a massive of trail of damage amid fears the death toll could rise.
Rescue workers were rushed to the scene as bodies piled up in the hospitals amid reports more than 220 people had been killed in the northwestern Indian state of Gujarat.
Hundreds of buildings were toppled in the state by the quake which Indian officials measured at 6.9 on the Richter scale.
However, French seismologists put the temblor at 7.6, while Chinese officials measured it as a massive 7.8.
Indian officials put the epicenter about 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of the town of Bhuj in Gujarat. But the tremors were felt across the border in Pakistan's southern Sindh province, where at least four people, including a four-year-old girl, were killed.
And more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away to the east in the Himalayan Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, people ran panicked out into the streets as they heard the rumbles of the quake.
An official at the control room in the Gujarat city, Ahmedabad, told AFP: "More than 200 people have died in the city."
At least 20 more were killed in the Gujarat town of Surat, according to domestic news agencies.
A Gujarat relief official said at least 500 structures had toppled in Ahmedabad, including a 10-storey building, and a school which had trapped 30 pupils.
Ahmedabad's top civil official, K. Srinivas, said he was sure the 220 figure "will be exceeded."
"We do not have accurate figures, but the impact was widespread. We have no less than 1,500 people already conducting relief operations and we are mobilising another 2,000, to 3,000," Srinivas said.
"Both the main city hospitals are full of patients and bodies," he said, adding: "The quake was very, very severe and intense. There was no warning at all."
Ahmedabad housewife Ushabehen Togadia told AFP three buildings had collapsed in her neighbourhood.
"All of them were four and five-storey buildings ... there must have been a lot of people trapped in the debris."
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee called an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the disaster, which struck as the country was marking Republic day.
Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya said operations were hampered as communication lines had been snapped.
"Relief operations have started. People have been alerted to evcauate old buildings or those which have developed cracks ... rescuers have been instructed to clear debris with utmost care."
The people of Gujarat were also bracing for further tremors after S.N. Bhattacharya, director of New Delhi's meteorological office, sounded a warning.
"When such an earthquake occurs, there are bound to be aftershocks. Any building that has developed cracks should be evacuated immediately," he said in a television warning.
In New Delhi, people rushed out of their homes in fright as the tremors started. Similar scenes occurred in the western port city of Bombay, India's financial heart and film capital.
A Bombay resident, clutching his young daughter to his chest, told the Star television network that he thought his last day had come.
"The building where I live began to heave and shake. I was worried for my daughter. I caught her and just ran and ran down to the ground. It was a deadly experience like touch and go. My daughter did not understand what was going on."
The quake was felt throughout Pakistan, which measured it as 6.2.
"It was a severe earthquake. Aftershocks are still being felt at some places," said the seismological department chief in Islamabad, Qamar Zaman.
In Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, dozens of people fled their homes in panic although there were no initial reports of casualties.
"I ran out of my house because the doors and furniture started to shake a lot," Ram Prasad Sharma, a Kathmandu resident told AFP.
"At first I felt dizzy and thought I was not feeling well but when things began to shake a lot for sometime I realized it was an earthquake so I yelled at other family members to go out to safety," he said.
The region is quake-prone. The last major quake to hit India was in 1999, when more than 100 people died in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in a temblor measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale -- NEW DELHI (AFP)
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