ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: Severe aftershocks jolted Pakistan and India early on Wednesday, 11 days after the Oct 8 quake killed thousands of people and left more than three million homeless across the region, officials said.

In Pakistan, tremors lasting a few seconds were felt at 7:34 am (0234 GMT) in Islamabad and Muzaffarabad, the seismological department said.

“It was a moderate earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale,” department official Ishtiaq Ahmed told AFP. Less than an hour later there was another 5-plus-magnitude aftershock, he said.

The epicentre of both tremors was near the quake-hit city of Mansehra, about 90 kilometres (56 miles) north of Islamabad. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

“Every time I feel the ground shake I feel scared and I want to be outside. I am worried when I walk past all the damaged buildings that another aftershock will make the debris fall on me,” said Mohammed Sabir, 32, a civil servant from Muzaffarabad.

The military warned that the aftershocks could cause buildings damaged by the original earthquake to collapse.

Meteorological department chief Qamaruz Zaman said 746 aftershocks had been recorded in Pakistan since the Oct 8 earthquake, which measured 7.6 on the Richter scale.

Some 35 aftershocks were felt over the past 24 hours but the ones that rattled the region this morning were relatively strong, Mr Zaman said.

In the occupied Kashmir, where more than 1,300 people died in the main quake, a string of aftershocks shortly after midnight (1830 GMT) on Wednesday sparked fresh fears among some 150,000 homeless people living in tents, sheds and under open skies in the worst hit areas.