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WORLD NEWSTuesday 27 October 2015

Over 260 dead as earthquake strikes Afghanistan, Pakistan

Kabul, buildings shook for Badakhshan province.
up to 45 seconds, walls
cracked and cars rolled Abdul Humayoon Dehqan,
in the streets as electricity
went out. the head of the National
Frightened workers who
had just returned from Disaster Management
lunch also rushed from
swaying buildings in the Authority’s provincial of-
Pakistani capital of Islam-
abad and to the south in fice, said he knew of only
the Indian capital of New
Delhi. 12 dead and 20 injured in
“I was praying when the
massive earthquake rattled the province, mostly in col-
my home. I came out in a
panic,” said Munir Anwar lapsed buildings,
of Liaquat Pur in Pakistan’s
eastern Punjab province. and that his teams would
At least 228 people were
killed in Pakistan, with more not reach affected areas
than 1,000 injured,
while Afghan officials re- until Tuesday morning to
ported 33 dead and more
than 200 injured, and au- get a better count.
thorities in the Indian-con-
trolled Kashmir region re- Despite vast mineral de-
ported two deaths.
Officials expected the ca- posits, Badakhshan is one
sualty toll to rise as they
reached the remote areas. of Afghanistan’s poorest
Authorities struggled to
reach the hardest-hit ar- provinces.
eas in Afghanistan near
the epicenter, located 73 It is often hit by earth-
kilometers (45 miles) south
of Fayzabad, the capital of quakes, but casualty figures

are usually low because it is

so sparsely populated, with

fewer than 1 million peo-

ple spread across its vast

People stand near a car damaged from an earthquake in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Oct. 26, mountains and valleys.
2015. A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake in northern Afghanistan rocked cities across South
Asia. Strong tremors were felt in Kabul, New Delhi and Islamabad on Monday. In the Pakistani It also suffers from floods,
capital, walls swayed back and forth and people poured out of office buildings in a panic, recit-
ing verses from the Quran. snowstorms and mudslides.

(AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad) Taliban-led insurgents have

used its remote valleys as

cover recently to seize dis-

LYNNE O’DONNELL on Monday, killing at least neath the Hindu Kush tricts as they spread their

RIAZ KHAN 263 people as it shook mountains in Afghanistan’s footprint across the coun-

Associated Press buildings across South Asia sparsely populated Bada- try.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) and knocked out power khshan province, which Dehqan said some districts

— A massive earthquake and communications to borders Pakistan, Tajikistan remain under Taliban con-

struck remote and impov- already-isolated areas. and China, the U.S. Geo- trol “and we don’t know

erished regions of northern The 7.5-magnitude quake logical Survey said. how we will be able to help

Afghanistan and Pakistan was centered deep be- In the Afghan capital of people in those areas.” q

UK’s House of Lords hands Cameron defeat on tax credit cuts

GREGORY KATZ as part of the deficit reduc- lower House of Commons’ ment spending cuts that Lords asserted they have
JILL LAWLESS tion plan. The cuts would af- position on finances stand. are part of the austerity the power to stop them.
Associated Press fect tax credits for parents In the House of Commons, plan enacted by Cameron Labour Treasury spokesman
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s and people in low-income Conservative Party law- and Treasury chief George John McDonnell had urged
unelected House of Lords jobs. The Labour Party and maker Edward Leigh said Osborne. The government the government to do a “U-
on Monday dealt a strong a number of Conservative the rights of legislators are had claimed the cuts will turn” on the measures to
defeat to the government lawmakers oppose the cuts being trampled by the un- be offset by other mea- protect British workers.
of Prime Minister David arguing that backing the elected Lords. sures, including a higher “These are people who go
Cameron by voting to de- measure would weaken “Not for 100 years has the minimum wage. to work, look after their kids,
lay a cut in tax credits. the party’s claim to repre- House of Lords defied this By tradition, the House of do everything asked of
The 307 to 277 vote in fa- sent working people. elected House,” he said af- Lords can only revise, and them and they are going
vor of halting the cuts puts After an emotional debate, ter the Lords’ vote tally was not overturn, legislation to lose, on average, about
the House of Lords in a rare the House of Lords took the announced. Critics said as passed by the Commons. 1,300 pounds ($2,000) a
clash with the House of unusual step of refusing to many as 3 million people But the tax-credit changes year,” he said.
Commons, which backed back a Commons’ vote in- would be worse off under take the form of new regu- Cameron insisted this
the measure supported by volving fiscal matters. The the proposed changes, the lations rather than a new week that the cuts were
Cameron and his ministers Lords traditionally let the latest in a string of govern- law, so members of the necessary.q