Powerful earthquake rocks Pakistan
Date
11/23/2015 7:36:59 AM
Islamabad: A powerful earthquake measuring 6.2-magnitude on the Richter scale rocked parts of Pakistan on Sunday night Pakistan's National Seismic Monitoring Centre said.
The US Geological Survey reported that magnitude 5.9 earthquake has hit northeastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan and Tajikistan.
The earthquake was most strongly felt in Pakistan the quake shook Karachi and north-western areas of the country though there were no reports of casualties.
According to the Pakistan's National Seismic Monitoring Center a branch of the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) the strong tremor was felt in the country's northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa tribal region bordering Afghanistan eastern Punjab province and capital Islamabad at about 11:16 p.m. (local time).
The earthquake was also felt in at least 35 districts of the country including northwestern districts of Peshawar Swat Malakand Chitral Swat and Lower Dir and other areas bordering Afghanistan.
The tremors created panic among people who rushed out of their houses to the open places at the cold night. No loss of life or property was reported from any area yet.
The epicenter of the earthquake was determined at a focal depth of 86 km at the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region.
Pakistan is among the most earthquake-prone regions of the world with high vulnerability to earthquakes.
On October 26 this year an earthquake of 8.1 magnitude struck parts of Pakistan killing at least 280 people wounding over 1900 others and damaging 100552 houses and 1426 schools.
In October 2005 a high intensity earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit parts of the country causing large scale destruction and killing over 80000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands others homeless.
QNA