ISLAMABAD, October 8, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A massive quake measuring at least 7.6 on the open-ended Richter Scale caused massive devastation across a swathe of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan on Saturday, October 8, with thousands of people feared dead and entire villages wiped out.

"This is the strongest quake in the last 100 years in this region," Qamar Uzzman, the chief of Pakistan's meteorological department, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The quake struck close to the Line of Control (LoC) between the Indian and Pakistani controlled zones of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, triggering deadly landslides that wiped out entire villages.

The quake, thought to be one of the most powerful to hit the region in decades, was felt from the Pakistan desert city of Quetta to northern Afghanistan's Kunduz mountains more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away.

The US Geological Survey and the Pakistan Meteorological Department said the quake measured 7.6 on the Richter scale and struck at 0350 GMT.

The epicenter was around 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Islamabad, according to most agencies.

Across the devastated areas, rescuers hunted for anyone still alive and buried in the rubble.

A massive relief effort swung into action in the worst hit areas, which are believed to be in remote mountain villages.

Pakistani and Indian officials confirmed a total of more than 1,800 dead, and there were fears the death toll could keep climbing as rescuers raced against time to find survivors.

Officials said the death toll topped 1,000 in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir alone.

"The death toll is certainly more than a thousand in Kashmir," army relief official Major Rana Nisar told AFP from Muzaffarabad, capital of the region.

Across the LoC, the de facto border between the two sectors, Information Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said nearly 300 people had been killed in Indian Kashmir, including civilians and army personnel.

Meanwhile, more than 550 people died in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, said Riffat Pasha, the provincial head of police.

Indian army spokesman P. Sehgal said many soldiers died when their positions caved in along the heavily-militarized LoC.

Pakistan took the brunt of the quake with thousands of people feared to have died and entire villages razed to the ground in northern areas.

"It is a test for all of us... the entire nation," said Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as he visited a site in Islamabad where a 10-storey apartment block collapsed, killing some residents and leaving others buried alive.

Pakistani officials described scenes of "massive devastation" and warned of heavy loss of life, especially in the mountains of Kashmir where communications were cut off.

In Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, officials said troops and helicopters had been scrambled but that parts of the region had been swept away.

"Village after village has been wiped out," an army relief official in Muzaffarabad said.

"The Neelum River has been blocked because whole villages have fallen into the water."

In Islamabad, in the first minutes after the earthquake struck, thousands of people fled their houses and sought the relative safety of the city's broad tree-lined avenues.

The ground shook for more than 30 seconds, rocking buildings and making it almost impossible to walk without falling over.

At least 14 aftershocks, including one measuring more than 6.0 on the Richter scale, rattled Islamabad in the hours after the quake, according to the meteorological department.

All along the main roads, terrified people were sitting or lying down, sobbing or looking confused. Many mosques started reciting special prayers.

Men spontaneously started reading aloud verses from the Noble Qur'an, and women beat their chests in a display of bereavement.

The quake also brought down buildings in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, including the 10-storey Margalla Towers where rescuers used bare hands to claw through rubble to reach blood-stained people trapped under huge stone slabs.

"We saw people rushing to a balcony on the other building but while it was still rocking, it crashed down and the occupants came down with the mass of the concrete," said local resident Sajida Burki.

"There were screams of women and children. Many are still trapped inside and we can hear cries. It's a tragic scene," Burki said.

"The search for survivors will continue round the clock," army spokesman Colonel Hemant Juneja told AFP in Srinagar, Indian Kashmir's summer capital.

Mohammed Abdullah, in the Indian Kashmir town of Uri, saw his house cave in along with his brother's.

"Under those rocks and bricks is my nephew," he said.

Hundreds of miles away in Afghanistan, a government official in Jalalabad said that two children were killed and nearly a dozen mud-brick houses were destroyed.

The quake is a grim reminder of last year's undersea earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra which sparked a tsunami wave that struck countries around the Indian Ocean and killed thousands of people.