Earthquake in Balochistan (1935)

A photograph taken on June 1935 shows survivors of a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Balochistan. The following text is the photograph’s original caption:

“Until the night of last May 31, this was a city of 60,000 human souls; base of the Royal Air Force and an important gateway to India. On the morning of June 1 it was a city of death and desolation. Earth tremors which shook a region 130 miles long and 20 miles wide and wiped out more than 100 villages over that terrain had snuffed out the lives of at least 40,000 of Quetta’s inhabitants, including 200 Europeans and 43 of Britain’s airmen. Hardly a house remained standing and, to protect the survivors from an outbreak of cholera, they were moved out of the city to adjoining plains and the city was sealed while the work of removing and disposing of the dead was carried on. This photograph is a view of one of Quetta’s main thoroughfares on the morning after the quake. It shows searching parties working in the ruins, seeking bodies and valuables. 50,000 died.”