Pakistan earthquake creates new island in Arabian Sea Earthquakes are more commonly associated with death and destruction. And the 7.8 magnitude quake in Pakistan was no different - it killed at least 250 people and flattened houses in the country's remote south-west. But it was so powerful it also created something - a small island around 600 metres off Pakistan's Gwadar coastline, in the Arabian Sea. It is thought the earthquake was so powerful it caused the seabed to rise. People gathered on the beach to catch a glimpse of the new island, reportedly 200-metres long and 100-metres wide.