A robust 6.8 magnitude earthquake with the epicentre in Afghanistan shook Pakistan, killing at the very least 12 folks and injuring almost 250 others in each the nations, authorities stated on Wednesday.
Image used for representational goal solely. Photograph: Reuters
The earthquake’s epicentre was Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush area, whereas its depth was 180 kilometres, based on the Pakistan Meteorological Department. Tremors had been additionally felt in many elements of north India, together with the Delhi-National Capital Region.
In Pakistan, earthquake tremors had been felt in Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Quetta, Peshawar, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Kot Momin, Madh Ranjha, Chakwal, Kohat and Gilgit-Baltistan areas.
Television footage confirmed panic-stricken residents out on the streets.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) in Peshawar in a tweet stated that 9 individuals, together with 5 males, two girls and two kids had been killed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan.
Two individuals — a person in Islamabad and a 13-year-old woman in Abbottabad — misplaced their lives because of sudden cardiac arrest after the quake, Dawn newspaper reported.
At the time of the earthquake, a stampede was reported in the markets of Rawalpindi, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
Nearly 200 folks had been injured in Swat, the place hospitals had declared a state of emergency.
The earthquake additionally jolted the mountainous area of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), the place the resultant landslides created worry.
However, no lack of life was instantly reported.
Rescue officers stated landslides broken a cattle farm in Yasin Ghizer, ensuing in the dying of livestock.
Sources stated landslides blocked the Karakoram Highway in the Harban space of Kohistan close to the border with GB’s Diamer district, stranding a number of folks on each side.
In Islamabad and the neighbouring metropolis of Rawalpindi, cracks appeared in numerous buildings.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has requested catastrophe administration officers to stay vigilant to deal with any scenario.
An emergency was declared in the hospitals of the federal capital on the directions of Federal Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
According to the Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan, at the very least three folks had been killed and 44 others had been injured in the quake.
“There might be extra casualties,” The Khaama Press — a web based Afghan information company, quoted a spokesperson for the general public well being ministry as saying.
Sharafat Zaman Amerkhail, one other spokesman for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health, stated that the heads of all medical centres had been instructed to organize workers for potential casualties from the earthquake.
According to the worldwide seismological centre, other than Pakistan and India, tremors had been additionally felt in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China and Kyrgyzstan.
Pakistan is situated in an energetic seismic zone and quakes of assorted intensities typically hit the nation.
A 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck Islamabad in January this yr.
The deadliest quake to hit Pakistan in 2005 killed greater than 74,000 folks.
