A World Food Program spokesman says at least 50 people are feared dead and 100 are missing in two remote Afghan villages following a powerful earthquake that struck a wide area of south and central Asia on Sunday.

WPF spokesman Khaled Mansour told reporters Monday in Islamabad, Pakistan that the governor's office in Afghanistan's northern Samangan province reported the deaths occurred in the villages of Takhdi and Rustum. The report has not been confirmed by other sources. WFP officials say they plan to send helicopters to the area to obtain more information.

The only other known death from the earthquake was reported Sunday in Kabul, where a man was crushed when a wall of his house collapsed on him. Several other people in the capital were injured by collapsing buildings. Residents ran into the streets in panic.

The quake, centered in northeastern Afghanistan, was felt also felt in Pakistan, India and Tajikistan.

Pakistani and Indian seismologists measured the quake at 6.7 on the Richter scale, while the U.S. Geological Survey in Colorado put the quake at 7.2.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.

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