Earthquake death toll 'may rise to 1,000'
The death toll following an earthquake on the Indian subcontinent has risen to 653 and may rise to 1,000.
In the Indian town of Bhuj, 90% of homes have been damaged and 150 people have been killed. Indian Home minister L K Advani said the death toll could be 1,000 or more.
The 7.9 magnitude quake was also felt in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The epicentre was near Bhuj, a desert town of 150,000 people in western Gujarat state, close to the border between India and Pakistan.
Dozens of buildings had toppled in the Gujarat region, and desperate relatives begged authorities to dig their family members from under the rubble. Police in Gujarat's commercial centre of Ahmedabad reported at least 200 dead.
India's national Nuclear Power Corporation has two 220-megawatt nuclear reactors in Gujarat, at Kakrapar, about 150 miles south of the epicentre. There were no immediate reports of damage.
In Ahmedabad, a city of seven million people, as many as 50 multi-storey buildings had collapsed.
An Indian firefighter said: "This is an emergency. We are facing a riotous crowd.
"A fear psychosis is developing in the city. People have fled their homes and are taking refuge in open fields."
About 70 children and some teachers were feared dead in the debris of their school building in one part of Ahmedabad.
In the town of Surat, where 31 died in the earthquake, a further three people were killed in a stampede at a diamond factory. When the quake hit, diamond workers in the three-storey factory crowded into a narrow stairwell and tried to push their way to the only exit.
