At least 100 people were killed as an earthquake hit southwestern Pakistan's Balochistan province early Wednesday morning, private DAWN NEWS TV channel reported.

Many others were also injured and more than 500 houses damaged in the worst-hit Ziarat area, said the report.

So far seven aftershocks have been recorded in the area and meteorological department warned more aftershocks were likely to hit the area in the coming week.

Farooq Ahmad Khan, chief of National Disaster Management Authority was quoted by DAWN NEWS as saying that medical teams had reached Ziarat area and the top priority at the moment was to rescue people from rubble of damaged houses.

A field hospital consisting of 25 doctors and 100 paramedics have also been dispatched to the quake-affected areas.

Up to 1,000 tents, 1,500 blankets and edible items have been dispatched to Ziarat.

The DAWN NEWS quoted official sources as saying that two quakes occurred Wednesday morning. The first one measuring magnitude 5.0 on Richter scale took place at 4:33 a.m. (2233 GMT Tuesday) and the second one measuring magnitude 6.1 occurred at 5:10 a.m. (2310 GMT Tuesday).

Ghulam Rasul, chief meteorologist of the research and development division of Pakistan Meteorologic Department (PMD) earlier told Xinhua on phone that the quake measured magnitude 6.5.

The Chief Minister of Balochistan province has ordered the concerned departments to utilize all possible resources to evacuate affectees and provide relief to them.

The Balochistan provincial government has sought help from armed forces to carry out relief operations.

(Xinhua News Agency October 29, 2008)