The 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit Pakistan and parts of India and Afghanistan on Saturday morning (or Friday night for us Americans) gave blogger "Castle_4" a long morning, and in his words lasted for "what seemed like an eternity."  Castle_4 is a student in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, which I believe is the post populated city near the quake's epicenter, 60 miles northeast.  A mile and a half from his home, much the Magala Towers in F-10/4 district of Islamabad were shook to the ground, as you can see in the photo links below.  The Hindustan Times reports over a thousand counted dead in Pakistan, and hundreds killed or injured in India.  The New York Times reports that the quake centered on the "forested mountains of Pakistani Kashmir" a disputed area in the Himalayan mountains that is claimed by both Pakistan and India.  The Sepia Mutiny blog also has headlines from the disaster.

Meanwhile, Kathryn Cramer has posted the coordinates of the 7.6 quake and the aftershocks.  You can find them on a map yourself, or, if you have Google Earth, locate the coordinates manually or download this overlay which placemarks the epicenter of the quake and zooms into it automatically.  Depending on the accuracy of the placemark, I found the epicenter to be closest to Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, 6 and a half miles southwest.  [The accuracy of the placemarks is dependent on the creator of the overlay; also, I experienced some distortion using the overlay while Google Earth was streaming, but none afterward.]

Photos of buildings down in Islamabad here; more photos of suffering--and rescuing--here.