Eerie sound of birds brought killer quake

As thousands of trees in the green city swayed and buckled, a menacing rumbling sound came up from the ground while the windows of houses and buildings in the Pakistani capital rattled and shook.

"The sound of the birds screaming really added to the feeling of fear. You could see crows circling above," said an AFP correspondent.

"I never felt such a powerful earthquake in my life. The minarets of the mosques were shaking," added security guard Mohammad Akram.

"People came out from their homes and buildings when the quake hit. Some of them started praying to God," Akram said.

In the first minutes after the earthquake measuring at least 7.6 on the Richter Scale struck early Saturday, thousands of people fled their houses and sought the relative safety of Islamabad's broad tree-lined avenues.