TOP EFFECTED PLACES FROM EARTHQUAKE IN PAKISTAN

At least 13 people have been killed and hundreds injured after a magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit areas across Afghanistan and Pakistan, with tremors felt as far as the Indian capital New Delhi.

In northwest Pakistan, at least nine people were killed and 44 injured, a government official said on Wednesday. Hospitals in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were put into a state of emergency overnight.

In Afghanistan, at least four people were killed and 50 wounded, a health ministry official told the Reuters news agency.

The earthquake’s epicentre was 40km (25 miles) southeast of the Afghan town of Jurm, near the borders with Pakistan and Tajikistan, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said on Tuesday.

The quake was felt over an area more than 1,000km (621 miles) wide by some 285 million people in Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.

Pakistan’s Meteorological Department put the magnitude slightly higher at 6.8 and later reported a 3.7 magnitude aftershock in the Hindu Kush region along the country’s border with Afghanistan.

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Pakistan, including Islamabad, and Rawalpindi, Pakistan Meteorological Department said on Sunday. 

According to the Meteorological Department, the quake’s depth was 150 km with the epicenter being in Tajikistan.

The department also reported that the latest tremor hit the country at around 12:54 pm and had a longitude of 69.65 East and a latitude of 38.65 North.

However, no loss of life or property was reported.

Radio Pakistan reported that there were no immediate reports of casualties. The tremor was felt in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and other areas of the country.

This was the second quake in a month after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolted several cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab, and Gilgit Baltistan on January 5. 

The PMD’s National Seismic Monitoring Centre had said the earthquake struck at 7:25pm in the Hindu Kush Region, Afghanistan at a depth of 173km. It had a longitude of 70.60 East and a latitude of 36.53 North.

The seismic centre said that the earthquake tremors were felt in Gilgit, Jhelum, Chakwal, Pakpattan, Lakki Marwat, Nowshera, Swat, Malakand, Azad Kashmir, and other areas of the country.

The earthquake's effects were also felt in Peshawar, Lower Dir, Chitral, Khyber District, Waziristan, Tank, Bajaur, Mardan, Parachinar, Murree, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Multan, Sheikhupura, Chiniot and Kotli.

However, the US Geological Survey claimed that the magnitude of the quake was recorded as 5.5 on the Richter scale.

Pakistan is located in a quake-prone region. The deadliest jolt in 2005 killed more than 74,000 people in the country. 

“A 10-year-old girl in Swat and a 24-year-old man in Lower Dir died when the walls of their [respective] houses collapsed,” Faizi told Al Jazeera.

According to Faizi, landslides have caused damage in the Swat district, 180km (112 miles) northwest of the capital Islamabad.

“More than 20 buildings have suffered damages due to the jolts and scores of people have been injured,” he said.

Hospitals in the Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province treated at least 250 patients, 15 of whom suffered minor injuries and more than 200 were unconscious. Fifty-two people were injured in other parts of the province, officials said.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asked the country’s disaster management officials to remain vigilant in the aftermath of the earthquake.

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake has been felt across much of Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India.

At least 3 people have been killed – two in Afghanistan and one in Pakistan according to police and officials ⤵️