File photo. AFP
At least nine people died and 58 others were injured in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake originating in Afghanistan occurred late on Tuesday.
According to the KP Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), five men, two women and two children died due to the earthquake, while the injuries were caused by various accidents that occurred due to the tremors. It said 26 houses, 1 school and 4 other buildings across KP had been partially damaged, adding that authorities were monitoring the situation to ensure there were no other losses.
A report compiled by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), likewise, said several roofs had collapsed, while the Astore Valley Road in Gilgit-Baltistan had been closed to traffic due to a landslide. In Islamabad, it said, cracks had developed in several apartment buildings but noted that all residents had been evacuated safely and there were no reports of structural collapse. In Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, it said, there were no reports of damages or losses.
Primarily felt in the northern parts of Pakistan, tremors were reported from Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Muzaffarabad, Peshawar, Haripur, Mardan, Chitral, Charsadda, as well as Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Muzaffargarh, Sahiwal, Okara, among others. The NDMA said the 6.8 magnitude earthquake had originated in the Hindukush region of Afghanistan at a depth of 180km, adding that it was followed by one aftershock of 3.7 magnitude.
Immediately after the quake, there were reports of panic in the country’s north, especially among people who live in high-rise buildings. On social media, people shared photos and videos of people congregating outside their homes as they awaited the tremors to subside.
Large parts of South Asia are seismically active because a tectonic plate known as the Indian plate is pushing north into the Eurasian plate. Tuesday’s quake was the second worst one experienced in Pakistan in recent years; in October 2005, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake had jolted the country’s north, killing over 100,000 people and causing significant damage to infrastructure.