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Pakistan Quake Killed Hundreds, Created Island Off Coast

It rose from the sea: The small island that appeared off the coast of Pakistan on Tuesday after an earthquake shook the region.
Government of Pakistan
/
EPA/Landov
It rose from the sea: The small island that appeared off the coast of Pakistan on Tuesday after an earthquake shook the region.

As more becomes known about the strong, , we're hearing that:

-- The death toll has risen to at least 327, . That's higher than earlier estimates. But when it reported there had been at least 264 deaths, the toll had been "expected to rise as rescue teams reach more villages in the remote area." So, the total may go up even further.

-- "A small island created in the Arabian Sea by the huge earthquake that hit southwest Pakistan has fascinated locals but experts say it is unlikely to last long," .

"seismologists suspect the island is a temporary formation resulting from a 'mud volcano,' a jet of mud, sand and water that gushed to the surface as the temblor churned and pressurized that slurry under the ocean floor."

The network adds that "older residents of the coastal town said the land emergence was déjà vu — an earthquake in 1968 produced an island that stayed for one year and then vanished, Ali Mohammad, 60, and Azeem Baloch, 57, told NBC °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ."

According to Dawn, "the island is about 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 metres) high, up to 300 feet wide and up to 120 feet long. ... It sits about 200 metres [656 feet] away from the coast."

The earthquake hit hardest in Pakistan's Baluchistan province. The island appeared near the coastal town of Gwadar.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
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