Pussy Riot's Tolokonnikova On Hunger Strike

Tolokonnikova Hunger Strike Letter

Updated: 6:17pm UK, Monday 23 September 2013

Below is a translation of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova's letter, explaining why she is going on hunger strike.

On Monday, September 23 I am going on hunger strike. This is a final measure, but I am absolutely sure that this is the only possible solution for me in this situation.

The administration of the colony is refusing to hear me, however I am not going to step away from my demands, I am not going to sit and watch how people are falling down because of slave-like conditions.

I demand human rights to be respected and law to be complied with in Mordovian camp. I demand prisoners to be treated like human beings, not slaves.

...

Mordovia greeted me with the words of the deputy chief of the penal colony, Lieutenant Colonel Kupriyanov, who is de-facto ruling the Colony Number 14: "You should know, that when it comes to political views, I am a Stalinist." 

Another chief Colonel Kulagin (they rule the colony in tandem), on the first day summoned me for a talk, he tried to persuade me to confess my guilt.

"A big misfortune happened to you, hasn't it? You were given two years in prison. Usually when something bad happens to a person, they usually change their mind. You need to confess your guilt in order to get paroled. If you do not confess, there will be no parole."

I immediately told him that I will not work longer than an eight-hour day, required by the labour code.

"Labour codex is one thing, but what is really important is to fulfil your quota. If you don't fulfil it - you work overtime. We broke tougher people than yourself!" answered Colonel Kulagin.

My brigade works 16-17 hours per day. Starting from 7.30 am and finishing at 12.30 am. We don't get more than four hours of sleep. We get one day off in six weeks. Almost all Sundays are working days.

Prisoners are forced into writing petitions to work "out of their own desire" ...  No one dares not to obey and not to work on Sunday until 1am.

One 50-year old woman asked to go to work until 8pm not 12.30am on Sunday in order to go to bed at 10pm and have eight hours' sleep at least once a week. She wasn't feeling well, suffering from high blood pressure.

In response, there was gathered a unit meeting where this woman was publicly insulted, humiliated and named lazy.

"Do you need more sleep than everyone else? You need to learn to pull your weight, you horse!"

When someone in the brigade can't work on doctor's orders, they get bullied as well.

"I worked when I had a fever of 40C and it was fine. What are you thinking - who is going to pick up the slack for you?"

My unit met me with the words of one prisoner, who was finishing her nine-year term: "Cops are scared to get to you. They want to do it using other inmates."

This explains the regime in the colony, they oppress you, intimidate and turn you into a wordless slave with the hands of other inmates who hold posts of heads of brigades and heads of units - all on the orders of the administration.

In order to maintain the discipline and obedience there is a wide range of informal punishment:

A ban from entering the barracks no matter the season. There is a woman in the second unit, where most of the disabled or pensioners are placed, who was banned from entering the barracks one day.

As a result of this, her feet and hands were frostbitten so severely they had to amputate one leg and fingers on her hand.

A ban on hygiene  - you are banned from cleaning yourself and going to the toilet. A ban on eating your own food or beverages.

It's scary and even funny when a 40-year old woman says: "Today we are punished, will we be punished again tomorrow, I wonder?" She can't leave the sewing workshop for a pee or can't take a candy from her own bag. It's forbidden.

Dreaming only of some sleep and a sip of tea - tortured, nervous and dirty -, inmates become an obedient human material in the hands of the administration, who only perceive us as free slave labour.

Thus in June my salary was 29 (!) roubles (59p) for the whole month. Despite the fact that brigade sews 150 police uniforms per day. Where does the money they get for them go?

…

The quotas are constantly rising unpredictably and drastically.

"If you show the administration that you can make 100 uniforms per day, they will increase quota up to 120!" say experienced inmates.

And you can't not fulfil your quota, otherwise the whole unit or brigade will be punished. For instance, by standing in the quad for many hours without permission to use the bathroom or have a sip of water.

Two weeks ago our production quota has been increased from 100 uniforms a day to 150 uniforms.

"If you weren't Tolokonnikova, you would have had the shit kicked out of you a long time ago," say fellow prisoners with close ties to the administration.

It's true, others are beaten up for not being able to keep up.

They are being hit in the kidneys, face. All beatings are done by other inmates and not a single one of these beatings are done without approval from the administration.

A year ago, before I came here, a gypsy woman has been beaten to death in the third unit (the third is the pressure unit where they put prisoners that need to undergo daily beatings).

She died in the medical ward of Colony Number 14. The administration managed to conceal that she died from beatings; they put a stroke as an official reason of death.

In another unit new inmates who couldn't keep up, were forced to sew naked.

No one dares to complain to the administration because the administration will smile in response and let you go back to your unit, where the "snitch" will be beaten up on the orders of the administration.

For the colony administration, controlled hazing is a convenient method for forcing prisoners into total submission to their systemic abuse of human rights.

A threatening, anxious atmosphere pervades the work zone.

Eternally sleep-deprived, overwhelmed by the endless race to fulfil inhumanly large quotas, prisoners are always on the verge of breaking down, screaming at each other, fighting over the smallest things.

Just recently, a young woman got stabbed in the head with a pair of scissors because she didn't turn in a pair of pants on time. Another tried to cut her own stomach open with a hacksaw. They stopped her.

The hygienic conditions of the colony are aimed at making the inmate feel like a dirty animal with no rights.

Although dormitories have their own "hygiene rooms" we are only allowed to use the "common hygiene room" with a corrective and punitive purpose.

"Common hygiene room" has a capacity of five, where all 800 inmates come to wash themselves.

We are not supposed to use the "hygiene rooms" in our barracks, which would be too easy. "Common hygiene room" is always overcrowded and everyone is trying to wash themselves sitting on each other's head.

You are allowed to wash your hair once a week. However, this rare opportunity is sometimes cancelled.

A pump will break or the plumbing will be stopped up. At times, my unit was unable to bathe for two to three weeks.

When the plumbing breaks down, urine splashes and clumps of faeces fly out of the hygiene rooms.

We've learned to unclog the pipes ourselves, but our successes are short-lived - they soon get stopped up again. The colony does not have a snake for cleaning out the pipes.

We get to do laundry once a week. The laundry is a small room with three taps pouring weak streams of cold water.

It must also be a corrective measure to only give prisoners stale bread, heavily watered-down milk, exclusively rusted millet and rotten potatoes. This summer, they brought in sacks of slimy, black potatoes in bulk. Then they fed them to us.

…

The living and working condition violations at PC-14 are endless.

However, my main and most important grievance is bigger than any one of these. It is that the colony administration prevents any complaints or claims regarding conditions at PC-14 from leaving colony walls by the harshest means available.

The administration forces people to remain silent. It does not scorn stooping to the very lowest and cruellest means to this end.

…

The administration, petty and vengeful, will meanwhile use all of its mechanisms for putting pressure on the prisoner so she will see that her complaints will not help anyone, but only make thing worse.

They use collective punishment: you complain there's no hot water, and they turn it off entirely.

…

I was addressing the administration with an offer to resolve this conflict; to release me from the artificially inserted pressure enacted by the prisoners they control; to abolish the slave labour; to shorten the working day and decrease the quotas so that they correspond with the law.

In response, the pressure has only increased.

That is why I am going on the hunger strike on September 23.

I refuse to participate in the slave labour in the colony until the administration starts acting within the law and stops treating women like cattle ejected from the realm of justice for the purpose of stoking the production of the sewing industry; until they start treating us like humans.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

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Syria: Charity Warns Of Child Malnutrition

More than two million youngsters caught up in the fighting in Syria are now at risk of malnutrition, according to Save the Children.

In rural Damascus one in 20 children is reported to be severely malnourished.

The charity blames a lack of access to food, soaring prices and a collapse in food production for the growing crisis.

It says it has heard of children surviving on nothing more than lentils or bread for long periods, while a family trapped in their basement lived off half a piece of bread each for four days.

The severe food shortages have been accompanied by soaring prices, with the cost of the most basic supplies having doubled.

Save the Children says lives are at stake

Jinan, the mother of a three-year-old, told aid workers: "The price of food doubled in my village and we couldn't afford to eat at all. Milk, bread, everything - doubled.

"The children became very hungry all the time and with no nutrients, they also became sick."

Mother-of-two Maryam said: "Because of a lack of food my children didn't grow as they should. They started losing weight and it was all we could do to keep them alive."

The war has devastated Syria's economy and the United Nations now estimates close to seven million inhabitants have been plunged into poverty.

A Free Syrian Army fighter in Aleppo

In addition, Syria's agriculture and infrastructure is collapsing, with grain production falling to less than half of what was typical before the war. 

Save the Children chief executive Justin Forsyth said: "The children of Syria have been shot, shelled and traumatised by the horror of war.

"The conflict has already left thousands of children dead and is now threatening their means of staying alive.

"Even if the world cannot agree on how to end the conflict surely they can agree that aid should be able to reach every child in need in Syria.

"There is no room for delay or argument: Syria's children must not be allowed to go hungry."

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Kenya Siege: British Woman 'Among Attackers'

A British woman and "two or three Americans" are said to be among the militants who took part in an attack on a shopping centre in Nairobi.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed confirmed al Shabaab fighters were responsible for the attack at the Westgate building.

In an interview with the American PBS Newshour programme, Ms Mohamed said: "Both the victims and the perpetrators ... came from Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States.

"From the information that we have, (there are) two or three Americans, and I think so far I have heard of one Brit."

Asked about the British woman, Ms Mohamed added: "A woman, and I think she has done this many times before."

Her comments have been dismissed by an al Shabaab spokesman who said: "Those who describe the attackers as Americans and British are people who do not know what is going on."

Ms Lewthwaite is known to be in East Africa

Ms Mohamed's remarks have, however, fuelled speculation that British terror suspect Samantha Lewthwaite, who was married to the July 7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, was involved.

Ms Lewthwaite, dubbed the "White Widow", is known to be in East Africa and is wanted by Kenyan police over alleged links to a terrorist cell that planned to bomb the country's coast.

In March last year officials said Ms Lewthwaite, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, had fled to Somalia and that officers were hunting a woman who used several identities, including hers.

On Monday night, Ms Lewthwaite's grandmother, Elizabeth Allen, 86, of County Down, was said by a friend to be "deeply distressed" by suggestions her granddaughter had been involved in the attack.

Councillor Raj Khan, whose family knew Ms Lewthwaite's family socially in Aylesbury, said he was surprised at speculation she was involved in the attack. He called her an "average, British, young, ordinary girl".

Ms Lewthwaite has gained "semi-mythical status" since travelling to East Africa, according to terrorism expert Raffaello Pantucci, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

Mr Pantucci said: "I don't think we've had any concrete evidence of her being involved in this incident, but the fact of her being mentioned in this context is not surprising because of her connections, and it is known that she is somewhere in East Africa."

Kenya's Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed spoke to the PBS Newshour programme

However, Professor David Anderson, an expert in African terrorism at the University of Warwick, said Ms Mohamed's remarks must be taken with a "pinch of salt".

He said: "It would be very unusual if a female, and a British female at that, was involved in an al Shabaab operation."

Britain's Foreign Office would not confirm claims about the involvement of a British woman, while US officials said there was no evidence of the nationalities or identities of the attackers.

Speaking in Pakistan, Home Secretary Theresa May told the BBC she would not be commenting on reports that a British woman was involved.

According to The Times, FBI sources are investigating claims that the terrorists were recruited in a Somali community known as "Little Mogadishu" in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which began on Saturday and has left at least 62 people dead.

Kenyan security forces claim they have taken control of the shopping centre after a final assault on the militants, but heavy gunfire can still be heard coming from the complex.

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Japan 'Slow To Tackle Fukushima Nuclear Leak'

Leaks of contaminated water at the crippled nuclear plant have worsened because Japan has acted too slowly, a former US nuclear regulatory chief claims.

US and Japanese officials knew that leaks would occur when massive amounts of water were used to cool molten reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant after a major tsunami hit in March 2011, said Gregory Jaczko, adding that he was surprised how long it took Japan to start tackling the problem.

"It's been known for a long time that this would be an issue," he told a news conference in Tokyo.

"My biggest surprise is to some extent how it's been allowed to deteriorate, a little bit, and how it's almost become a surprise again that there are contamination problems, that there is leakage out into the sea."

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe (in red hat) last week at the plant

Mr Jaczko said that when the plant was in critical condition, with three reactor cores melted and in dire need of cooling water, Japanese and US officials had disputed how much water should be put in because of the imminent leaks of radiation contaminated water and measures needed to contain that problem.

The Japanese government, he said, was concerned that flooding those reactor vessels and reactor buildings with cooling water "would lead to greater leakage of ground water," whereas the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission emphasised the need to keep reactors cool and under control to minimise the airborne contamination.

But the "focus was lost" on the need to keep addressing the radioactive water problem, apparently delaying action on mitigating the problem, he said.

Japanese officials confirmed for first time in July that contaminated ground water had begun leaking into the Pacific soon after the accident.

Gregory Jaczko left his post last year

Leaders of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, which was in power during the crisis, acknowledged last week that a plan to build a seawall to block contaminated water leaks into the sea has been put off for nearly two years after plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. allegedly refused to agree to the plan because of costs.

The public is increasingly worried about the recent string of underground water leaks into the ocean and from storage tanks holding contaminated water used to cool the reactors.

The government is now funding the development of more advanced water treatment equipment and paying for a costly ice wall to surround the reactor and turbine buildings and prevent them from contaminating outside ground water.

Mr Jaczko, who was chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission at the time of the Fukushima accident, was in Tokyo at the invitation of a Japanese anti-nuclear citizens' group.

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Greenpeace Activists Face Piracy Charges

Russia has filed piracy charges against Greenpeace activists who tried to climb onto an offshore drilling platform.

The protesters are on a Greenpeace ship, the Arctic Sunrise, which was seized last week by the Russian coastguard and towed into a port near Murmansk on Tuesday.

It was unclear how many of the 30 activists on board face piracy charges, which carry a potential prison sentence of up to 15 years and a fine of 500,000 rubles (£9,800).

The Investigative Committee, Russia's federal investigative agency, said it would question all those who participated in the protest and detain the "more active" among them.

Arctic Sunrise, Greenpeace's ship

Two activists tried to climb onto the Prirazlomnaya platform in the Arctic on Thursday and others assisted from small inflatable boats. The platform is owned by state-controlled gas firm Gazprom.

The Greenpeace protest was aimed at calling attention to the environmental risks of drilling for oil in Arctic waters.

Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said: "When a foreign vessel full of electronic technical equipment of unknown purpose and a group of people calling themselves members of an environmental rights organisation try nothing less than to take a drilling platform by storm, logical doubts arise about their intentions.

"Such activities not only infringe on the sovereignty of a state, but might pose a threat to the environmental security of the whole region."

Greenpeace insists that Russia had no right under international law to board its ship.

One activist claims coastguard officers hit and kicked some activists when they stormed the vessel.

The Arctic Sunrise was anchored on Tuesday in a small bay near Severomorsk, the home port of Russia's Northern Fleet, 15 miles north of Murmansk.

Greenpeace said the 30 activists were from 18 countries.

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VW Camper Van Nears End Of The Road

It carried hippies through the 1960s, hauled surfers in search of waves and serves as a workhorse across the developing world, but the long journey of the Volkswagen (VW) Camper van is coming to an end.

The company is to cease production in Brazil - the last place in the world still producing the iconic "bus" as it is known - at the end of the year.

VW said it had decided it could not change production to meet new laws being imposed in the South American country which meant all new vehicles must have air bags and anti-lock braking systems from 2014.

While output will halt in Brazil, over 10 million Volkswagen Transporter vans were made globally over the past 63 years and they remain popular because of their retro look and the "back-to-basics" driving experience they offer compared with modern vans.

Surf's up! The van is a familiar sight on coastlines world-wide

Damon Ristau, director of the documentary The Bus, which follows VW fanatics and their affections for the machine, said: "The van represents freedom.

"It has a magic and charm lacking in other vehicles. It's about the open road, about bringing smiles to people's faces when they see an old VW van rolling along."

Perhaps nothing with a motor has driven itself deeper into American and European pop culture than the VW, known for its durability - but also its tendency to break down.

Van lovers say its failures only reinforce its charm. Because its engine is so simple, it's easy to fix, imparting a deeper sense of ownership.

Many owners redesign the interior space to suit their needs

The van made an appearance on Bob Dylan and Beach Boys record album covers, among many, though in music circles it's most closely linked to the Grateful Dead and the legion of touring fans that followed the rock group across the US, the machines serving as rolling homes.

Steve Jobs is said to have sold his van in the 1970s to buy a circuit board as he built a computer that helped launch Apple.

The vehicle is also linked to the California surf scene, its cavernous interior perfect for hauling boards.

But in poorer regions like Latin American and Africa, the vehicle doesn't carry the same romantic appeal.

Yusef Islam is among celebrities to use the van for PR purposes

It is used in Brazil by the postal service to haul mail, by the army to transport soldiers and by funeral directors to carry bodies.

It serves as a school bus for children, operates as a group taxi and delivers construction materials to building sites.

Brazilians convert their vans into rolling food carts, setting up on street corners for working-class lunchtime crowds.

In Brazil it is known as the "Kombi," an abbreviation for the German "Kombinationsfahrzeug" that loosely translates as "cargo-passenger van."

Still running: owners love the camper van for its durability

Production in Germany was halted in 1979 because the van no longer met European safety requirements, meaning its future was dependent on operations in South America.

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Kenya Siege: Heavy Gunfire Heard Inside Mall

Heavy bursts of gunfire have been heard from inside a Nairobi shopping centre as Kenyan soldiers fight with terrorists to rescue hostages.

At least 10 hostages remain inside the mall on the fourth day of the siege in which 62 people have been killed, including six Britons - among them an eight-year-old girl.

Medics who have been inside the complex warned that the numbers of dead are significantly greater than have been confirmed, and the city morgue is preparing for the arrival of a large number of bodies.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to make an announcement to the nation later, a spokesman said.

It was not clear whether he would announce an end to the operation.

Victims: Ross Langdon, Eliv Yavus and eight-year-old Jenah Bawa

In a new Twitter feed claiming to be run by Somalia's al Qaeda-linked rebel group, al Shabaab, a post said that "the mujahideen are still holding their ground".

It warned "there are countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall" and said it was "far greater than how the Kenyans perceive it".

Another post said that they were still holding hostages who were "still alive looking quite disconcerted but, nevertheless, alive".

In an audio broadcast on a pro-militant website, the al Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamoud Rage threatened that unless Kenya pulled its troops out of Somalia it could expect further terror attacks.

Bullet holes around a window of the Westgate mall

The Kenyan police responded with a Twitter message in which it told people to ignore enemy propaganda and said: "Troops now in mop up operations in the building. More to follow. Be calm."

They also said that they had been defusing bombs set up by the militants inside the mall, as part of the building's roof has now collapsed.

The army has confirmed that three soldiers have been killed in the fighting.

The Kenyan government insisted early on Tuesday that it was "in control" of the mall and that all hostages trapped by the attackers had been evacuated.

Kenyan forces at the shopping centre early on Tuesday

Government spokesman Manoah Esipisu said: "Our special forces are inside the building checking the rooms. Obviously it's a very, very big building.

"We think that everyone, the hostages, have been evacuated but we don't want to take any chances. The special forces are doing their job and yes, I think we are near the end."

Sky News Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay said: "The government has said it's all over … but that seems to conflict with what we are hearing both from the military sources here - one of them told me that there were at least maybe two gunmen still holed up - and indeed al Shabaab itself."

Bodies arrive at the city morgue

He said that he had spoken to a medic who had been inside the building and they had said the numbers of dead were "huge" and warned that the official figures would rise.

The developments came as Kenya's Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said that a British woman and two or three Americans were among those who had attacked the centre.

Her comments have led to increasing speculation that the Briton could be the 29-year-old widow of the 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, Samantha Lewthwaite.

However, a leading terrorism expert has said her involvement is unlikely and al Shabaab has denied the claim that Britons and Americans are involved.

The extremists also appeared to verify a picture that has been circulating on the internet claiming to be taken from the shopping centre CCTV and showing the gunmen.

Smoke is seen rising from the shopping centre

The two figures in the picture are seen in black headscarves, ambling past a children's sweet stall in the mall.

According to Sky News sources, the British military is now giving assistance to Kenyan forces at the mall and has offered further assistance.

On Monday, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said: "As the Prime Minister made clear, we have said we will provide them with any assistance which they request. We haven't yet been asked to provide any assistance beyond broad background advice."

Barack Obama, whose father was born in Kenya, said the United States stood with Kenyans against "this terrible outrage".

The atrocity is the worst in Nairobi since an al Qaeda bomb attack on the US embassy in 1998 that killed more than 200 people.

:: The Kenyan Red Cross has set up a webpage for anyone worried about friends or relatives who might be caught up in the siege.

:: A helpline has been set up for people in the UK who are concerned about relatives in Kenya: 020 7008 000.

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Sofa Bed 'Suffocates' Three-Year-Old Girl

A New York man has been charged over the death of a three-year-old girl who apparently suffocated after she became trapped inside his sofa bed, officers said.

Mohamed Barry, 50, was arrested for allegedly failing to supervise Aissante Diallo, the daughter of his live-in girlfriend.

He is accused of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the youngster's death.

Barry told police he had briefly gone out on Sunday evening, reportedly for about 10 minutes, leaving Aissante and two older siblings, aged five and 10, in his Harlem apartment.

Officers found the three-year-old girl unconscious, and she was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

The three children were playing on the sofa bed when one of the folds came down, trapping the little girl inside, CBS reported, citing sources.

Investigators were awaiting confirmation of the cause of death from the medical examiner, the network added.

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NY Taxi Crash Victim Thanks Strangers For Help

A British tourist who lost a leg when a taxi struck her in Manhattan has thanked the strangers who came to her aid, saying "I wouldn't be sitting here" without their help.

Sian Green, 23, was on holiday in New York when a yellow taxi mounted the pavement and struck her in midtown in August.

A street vendor who gave her ice, a plumber who used his belt to make a tourniquet for Ms Green's leg, and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, whose studio is nearby, all rushed to help her.

"There's good people in this world, very good people in this world that I can't thank enough," Ms Green told NBC's Today show.

"They saved my life. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be sitting here right now telling this story."

Passersby help after the accident near Rockefeller Center. Pic: NBC

It was the first time Ms Green had spoken since the accident and her stay at Bellevue Hospital, where doctors amputated part of her left leg.

Ms Green said recording the interview just a block from the site of the accident brought back memories.

"We came here thinking we were just coming on a holiday, and then it's been a whirlwind and it's turned upside down,'" she said.

She recalled "walking, getting a drink, just going to Times Square, walking, having a great time with my best friend and that was it".

When the crash occurred "I couldn't move", she said.

"It was one of those things. If I had gone left, it would have gotten me, if I had gone right, it would've gotten me."

Ms Green was on holiday in New York

Ms Green, who is from Leicester, recalled the pain of calling her mother back in the UK.

"The worst thing that you want to hear is that your daughter's been in an accident so far away from home.

"All those miles away, mum and dad had to get the first flight out, and I could just not imagine what they were going through."

Cab driver Mohammed Fasyal Himon has said he was "very sorry" about the accident and launched a charity fund for Ms Green.

No charges have been filed.

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Deaths As 7.8 Earthquake Hits Rural Pakistan

At least 39 people have been killed after a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit a remote area of south western Pakistan.

The quake struck a remote mountainous part of the country at 4.29pm local time (12.29BST) around 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of the city of Khuzdar in Balochistan province, at a depth of 15 kilometres.

It was felt as far away as the Indian capital of New Delhi, hundreds of miles to the east, where buildings shook.

Early reports said dozens had died, but many of the buildings in that part of the country are made of weak materials and there were fears of more casualties.

Abdul Qadoos, deputy speaker of the Balochistan assembly, told Reuters that 30 people and at least 30% of houses in the impoverished Awaran district had been destroyed.

The United States Geological Survey issued a red alert for the quake, warning that heavy casualties were likely, based on past data.

Tremors were felt across the province as well as in the sprawling port city of Karachi, residents said. People in Ahmedabad in India, hundreds of miles from the epicentre, ran out of buildings and into the street.

A senior Pakistani meteorologist, Muhammad Riaz, told Dunya TV station it was a "major" earthquake and "heavy destruction" was likely.

Mumtaz Baluch, an official in Awaran district, 350 kilometres southwest of Quetta, said: "There are reports of houses being collapsed in the district. We also have initial information about injuries to people as a result of the collapse of houses.

"We have dispatched our teams to the affected area to ascertain the losses."

Office workers in Karachi rushed out of their buildings and sat on the footpaths along the roads or stood away from structures.

Noor Jabeen, a 28-year woman working for an insurance company, said: "My work table jerked a bit and again and I impulsively rushed outside."

In 2005, a 7.6 magnitude quake centred in Kashmir killed at least 73,000 people and left several million homeless in one of the worst natural disasters to hit Pakistan.

The epicentre is in a remote, sparsely-populated mountainous area of Balochistan.

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