Magnitude 6 earthquake shakes Islamabad and KP, tremors reach Lahore
A powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake shook the federal capital and surrounding areas, including parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with tremors reportedly felt as far away as Lahore, causing panic among residents who rushed out of their homes.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department’s National Seismic Monitoring Centre (NSMC) reported that the quake struck around 12:18 am, with its epicentre located in southeastern Afghanistan.
The tremors originated 15 kilometres below the surface in the Hindu Kush mountains.
Strong jolts were felt in Peshawar, Mardan, Murree, and nearby areas, prompting people to evacuate homes and offices in fear.
Reports of the earthquake also came from Chakwal, Taxila, Wah Cantt, and Lahore.
Fortunately, no major damage or casualties have been reported in Pakistan so far.
Aftershocks were later recorded in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Chitral, and Peshawar. Residents of Hangu, Malakand, Swat, Mansehra, and Abbottabad also felt the seismic activity. The NSMC confirmed a 4.6-magnitude aftershock at 12:38 am.
Authorities urged citizens to remain alert for further tremors and avoid unsafe structures.
Rescue teams and local authorities are actively assessing the situation.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan reported casualties from the same 6.0-magnitude earthquake, which struck southeastern Afghanistan at 11:47 pm local time (12:18 am PST), according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Early reports showed 30 dead in a single village, the health ministry said, but added that accurate casualty figures had yet to be gathered in an area of scattered hamlets with a long history of earthquakes and flooding.
“The number of casualties and injuries is high, but since the area is difficult to access, our teams are still on site,” health ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman said in a statement.
Hundreds of injured were taken to hospital, said Najibullah Hanif, the provincial information head, with figures likely to rise as reports arrived from remote areas with few roads.
The epicentre was located 27 kilometres east-northeast of Jalalabad at a relatively shallow depth of eight kilometres (six miles), USGS said.
At least 15 other people were injured, officials said in a statement.
The quake shook buildings from Kabul to Islamabad, around 370 kilometres away for several seconds, AFP journalists said.
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
On August 3, strong tremors shook Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and multiple other areas shortly after midnight, as a 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck at 12:10am, the second to hit the region in two days.
The PMD’s seismic centre stated that the earthquake struck at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres, with its epicentre located 15 kilometres southeast of Rawat.
Shocks were also reported in Attock, Swabi, and Zafarwal, as well as in northern areas including Swat, Shangla, Buner, Malakand, Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan, and Murree.
Tremors were also felt in Jhelum and several towns across Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
