Monday, 5 June, 2023

People flee homes as earthquake hits Pakistan, Afghanistan and India

Sun Online Desk
22nd March, 2023 12:48:17 AM
Print news

A strong earthquake lasting for at least 30 seconds was felt across much of Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India on Tuesday night, with the US Geological Survey putting its magnitude at 6.5, reports The Guardian.

“People ran out of their houses and were reciting the Qur’an,” an AFP correspondent in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi said, with similar reports coming from elsewhere in the country and Afghanistan.

The US Geological Survey said the quake was centred near Jurm in north-eastern Afghanistan and had a depth of 187 km (116 miles).

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

More than 1,000 people were killed and tens of thousands made homeless after a 5.9-magnitude quake – the deadliest in Afghanistan in nearly a quarter of a century – struck the impoverished province of Paktika on 22 June last year.

AP adds: a strong earthquake has rattled Pakistan’s capital Islamabad and other parts of the country.

Residents in the capital Tuesday fled their homes as walls started swaying and the quake was felt across the country. Pakistan's meteorological office said the earthquake was a magnitude 7.7.

Dawn reports that at least two people were killed and six injured as a 6.8 magnitude earthquake — with its epicentre being the Hindu Kush region — jolted parts of the country on Tuesday, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).

The US Geological Survey said the quake rocked Afghanistan and parts of India as well, including the capital New Delhi, adding that the quake epicentre was 40 kilometres south-southeast of the Afghan town of Jurm.

An interim report from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Disaster Management Authority said that two people died and six people were injured from incidents of roof, wall and house collapses while eight homes were partially damaged in the province.

However, Swat District Police Officer Shafiullah Gandapur told Dawn.com that two people died in the district while 150 were injured, adding that they were moved to Saidu Teaching Hospital for treatment.

According to Radio Pakistan, PMD DG Mahr Sahibzad Khan said that earthquake tremors were felt in Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Quetta, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, South Waziristan and other areas of the country.

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