two towers of margallah apartments holding 16 apartments and about 150 people collapsed. for a long time nothing could be done about the people inside since the rescue workers were afraid of using cranes as there is a basement underneath the building and they weren't sure whether it would hold the weight of the crane or not.

82 people were pulled out alive from the rubble. but a government official said that rescuers also found the bodies of 10 people - seven Pakistanis, an Egyptian and two Japanese, one of whom was a two year old child.

apparently, by the time the second tremor hit, the building had already started to collapse.

president pervez musharraf's spokesman said "deaths could be running in the thousands" nationwide, and rescue teams have been airlifted into the worst-affected areas where roads had been cut off by landslides.

some 400 children were killed at two schools in nwfp, where around 1,000 people were feared dead. on pakistan's side of kashmir the toll would be worse.

the first quake was followed by 18 aftershocks which had magnitudes of between 4.6 and 6.3 over the next 10 hours. they were felt across the subcontinent, shaking buildings in the afghan, indian and bangladeshi capitals. we felt one while we were in our exam, though most of the class didn't realize it was an aftershock until after it had finished.

the U.S. geologicalsSurvey described the quake as major, saying it took place at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). the pakistan metrological department, said it was the strongest earthquake in the subcontinent since the 1905 kangra earthquake that killed 20,000 people in india's madhya pradesh state.

the phone lines have been clogged with people calling family all over the country. it's been impossible to get through to anyone.