A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck southern Pakistan in quake-prone Balochistan province, killing at least 208 people, injuring more than 370, and flattening fragile buildings.  But the power of the quake and the destruction wasn’t the wildest part of the story.

It may have caused a new island to thrust upward from below the Arabian Sea surface.  Grainy photos and video started popping up on the Internet, uploaded by folks who hadn’t seen that thing before. 

The lump is located 600 meters off the Gwadar coastline.  The United States Geological Survey says it’s also possible a “mud volcano” formed the island.  That has happened on that stretch of the Arabian Sea coastline in the past.

Back on land, there are fears as many as 30 percent of the regions homes, most made of mud, were destroyed or damaged by the quake.  Concrete buildings fared better.

"We have started to bury the dead," said Abdul Rasheed Gogazai, the deputy commissioner of Awaran, the most affected district in Balochistan province.