Pakistan Earthquake Creates New Island

Death toll of at least 327

UPDATE: The death toll from a powerful earthquake in southwestern Pakistan rose to 327 people on Wednesday, local officials said. "Two hundred and eighty five bodies have so far been recovered in the Awaran district," Abdul Rasheed Gogazai, the deputy commissioner of Awaran, the worst affected area, told Reuters. "And 42 bodies were found in the neighbouring Kech district," he added.

 The 7.7-magnitude quake hit in the Awaran district of Baluchistan province on Tuesday afternoon, destroying scores of mud-built houses and prompting a new island to rise from the sea just off the country's southern coast. The earthquake was so powerful that it caused the seabed to rise and create a small, mountain-like island about 600 meters (yards) off Pakistan's Gwadar coastline in the Arabian Sea.