Powerful quake kills 12 in Pak, Afghanistan

Islamabad/Kabul, March 22

At least 12 people were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan following a powerful 6.5-magnitude quake that struck the two neighbouring nations, with tremors also felt across north India.

According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the epicentre of the Tuesday night tremor, with a depth of 187.589 km, was initially determined to be at 36.5227 degrees north latitude and 70.9787 degrees east longitude in Jurm, Afghanistan, reports Xinhua news agency.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Disaster Management Authority in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said five men, two women and two children were killed in the Pakistani province.

At least 21 women, 19 men and seven children were also injured and admitted to different hospitals for treatment, the Authority added.

Ensuing landslides have also blocked roads in the city of Abbotabad as well as the Karakoram Highway in the Harban area of Kohistan.

Major Pakistani cities, including Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Muzaffarabad, Peshawar, Haripur, Mardan, Chitral, Charsadda, also felt the quake.

Videos from Islamabad show panic-stricken people, especially those living in high-rises, rushing out of their homes, reports Dawn news.

According to initial reports, cracks appeared in the Al-Janaat Mall in Rawalpindi and buildings in Islamabad.

Following the earthquake, emergency response centres were established and an emergency was declared in hospitals in northwest Pakistan.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered the National Disaster Management Authority and other institutions to be ready to deal with any emergency.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan, two people died in the Takhar province and a third fatality was reported in Laghman.

Spokesman for the Public Health Ministry Sharafat Zaman Amar on Wednesday said that at least 44 people were also injured, adding that the number of casualties might increase as search and rescue operations are currently underway.

Acting Interior Minister Sarajudin Haqqani has instructed concerned bodies to provide humanitarian aid to the affected families.

The tremors were also felt strongly across north India, from Kashmir to Delhi-NCR and reports poured in on social media about people reporting fans and appliances swaying, while many ran out of their houses.

There were no reports of any casualties or injuries in India.

Tremors were felt over a 1,000-km area that spans India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.

Earthquakes are more likely in this region because it lies at the juncture of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

In June last year more than 1,000 people were killed after a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan's Paktika province, the country's deadliest in nearly a quarter of a century.