New earthquake strikes Pakistan's Balochistan

A new earthquake has struck the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan, where hundreds of people have already died and thousands more been affected by a previous tremor, the US Geological Survey reports. The latest earthquake measured 6.8 in magnitude, and occurred about 96km northeast of the city of Awaran, the USGS said on Saturday. The quake occurred at a depth of 14.8km, which was similar to Tuesday's 7.7 magnitude earthquake. The epicentres of the two tremors were about 30km apart, according to USGS data. "It was not an aftershock it was an independent earthquake," Zahid Rafi, director of the National Seismic Centre of Pakistan, told local news television station Geo TV. At least 359 people were killed, and another 765 injured, when Tuesday's earthquake struck the impoverished region of southwestern Pakistan, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority's official figures. Unofficial estimates put the number of dead at more than 500. The government says that more than 185,000 people have been affected by the tremor, and that rescue and relief activities are being undertaken by the civil administration in conjunction with the army. The population of Awaran district is scattered over more than 21,000 square kilometres of remote and rugged terrain, where infrastructure is limited, with few medical facilities or even roads. Conditions are desperate among the survivors and many are going without food, water and shelter, having lost everything in the quake, Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder reported from Awaran district. The government says that it has delivered more than 11,800 tents to survivors, and that several medical teams are now operating in the area. Other items to be distributed included blankets, food packets, water, mosquito nets and other essentials. Rescue efforts have been hampered both by the remoteness of the area, and by attacks carried out by separatist Baloch rebels against army convoys carrying the aid. Rebels have been fighting the Pakistani state in Balochistan for decades, demanding greater rights for ethnic Baloch and alleging that the federal government does not adequately recompense Balochistan for its natural resources. The campaign has intensified in recent years in the wake of a campaign of enforced disappearances of Baloch activists, allegedly carried out by Pakistani government and intelligence agencies.