section_path: History/Foundation
section_name: Foundation
paragraph_text: Foundation
  
  In 1856, British General John Jacob had urged his government to occupy Quetta given its strategic position on the western frontier. British troops constructed the infrastructure for their establishment as a garrison town. In 1877, the British made an agreement with then Khan of Kalat, Mir Khudadad Khan to rule Quetta, which started the regime of Sir Robert Groves Sandeman.
  
  It was reconstructed after the 1935 Quetta earthquake, which razed the city to the ground. The epicentre of the earthquake was close to the city and destroyed most of the city's infrastructure, killing an estimated 40,000 people. After the foundation of Pakistan, Balochistan acquired the status of a province and Quetta became a provincial capital.