- Epicentre located in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region: PMD.
- Strong tremors shake Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Swat, Gilgit.
- No immediate reports of damage or casualties so far.
Tremors were felt in several parts of Pakistan, including Islamabad, on Friday evening after a 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck.
In a statement, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said that the quake’s epicentre was in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region.
Strong shocks were reported in Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Chitral, Swat, Gilgit, and Abbottabad, as well as surrounding areas.
However, no immediate reports of damage or casualties were received.
The PMD’s National Seismic Monitoring Centre said the earthquake had a depth of 120 kilometres.
The tremors were recorded after a 5.5-magnitude quake jolted Islamabad and multiple areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the last week of September.
Earthquakes have frequently rattled the region, especially Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent years. Record shows seismic activity in neighbouring countries lying at the intersection of Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
In September, Afghanistan witnessed a massive magnitude 6 earthquake in the rugged eastern region of the country, killing more than 2,200 people and injuring several thousand others.
Several parts of Pakistan including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Mardan, Chitral, Murree and adjoining areas also felt the tremors in the following days with reports of effect being felt as far away as Lahore.
Karachi, back in June, experienced multiple tremors with the tally going up to at least 57 in one month.
Chief Meteorologist Aamir Haider explained that these tremors had occurred due to the reactivation of the Landhi Fault Line after several decades, adding that the fault was going through a normalisation phase.
