The death toll from Tuesday's powerful earthquake in southwest Pakistan rose to 327 on Wednesday after hundreds of mud houses collapsed on residents throughout the remote and thinly populated area, a local official said.

Pakistan's army airlifted hundreds of soldiers to help with the aftermath of the worst earthquake in the South Asian country since 2005, when about 75,000 people were killed in the country's north.

Jan Muhammad Buledi, spokesman of the Balochistan government, told the media that the Awaran district of the province, the epicenter of the earthquake, was the hardest-hit area, where 40 to 50 percent of houses in urban areas and 90 percent of houses in rural areas were leveled.

China on Wednesday expressed condolences to the families of those killed and injured in the powerful quake.

"China is closely watching the Pakistan earthquake situation, expresses deep grief over those killed, and offers condolences to the families of those killed and injured," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang also sent condolences to their Pakistani counterparts over the earthquake, Hong said.

"The Chinese government will offer emergency aid to Pakistan in accordance with Pakistan's needs," Hong added.

Awaran, about 645 km from Balochistan's capital, Quetta, is home to 300,000 people and is one of the country's least-developed districts, and where health, medical and other facilities are not readily available.

The Balochistan spokesman said rescue teams have so far pulled out 210 bodies and more than 300 injured people from thousands of demolished houses, where rescue work is still going on.

Rasheed Gadozai, deputy commissioner of Awaran, told local media that an estimated 100,000 people have been affected in Awaran, while losses in some of the district's far-flung areas are yet to be determined as rescue teams hadn't gotten there yet due to mountainous ridges in the area where road networks were damaged by the quake.

The Balochistan government has declared an emergency in six quake-hit districts where 40 people were killed and hundreds of others injured when their houses were razed by strong quake tremors.

Reuters-Xinhua

(China Daily 09/26/2013 page10)