An earthquake of magnitude 5.9 hit Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region, causing panic but no immediate reports of casualties or damage. [GETTY]
A strong earthquake struck Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region on Saturday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said, sending out tremors that could be felt from the capital Kabul across the border into neighbouring Pakistan.
People ran out of their doors in panic in Swat district in northern Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, resident Daniyal Ahmad told news agency Reuters.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
“It was very huge here in Swat and it lasted for quite a long time,” he said.
“People came out of their houses and women and children were seen crying in panic.”
The magnitude 6 quake was at a depth of 100 km (62 miles), EMSC said.
An earthquake of magnitude 5.4 struck Pakistan earlier on Saturday, according to EMSC.
Anwar Shahzad, a spokesman for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, said that initial assessments had found no reports of casualties or damage.
Pakistan lies along an active seismic zone and is frequently affected by earthquakes. A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in 2005 killed tens of thousands of people in Pakistan and Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan region divided between Pakistan and India and claimed by both countries.
