An earthquake of moderate intensity was felt in the country's upper and northern parts on Friday.

According to the Regional Seismic Monitoring Centre, Lahore, the jolts were recorded at an intensity of 5.3 on the Richter scale. Tremors were felt in Islamabad, Peshawar, Swat, Buner, Shangla, Malakand besides various other parts of Pakistan.

The earthquake's epicentre was reported by the Met department to be the Tajikistan-Xinjian border region. It had a depth of 120 kilometres.

Panic arose among citizens due to the jolts, prompting them to quickly vacate their homes and offices and stand under the open skies to wait out the episode.

A flurry of tweets was seen across Twitter with #Islamabad and #earthquake trending. People prayed for the safety of their loved ones and some were asking for verification of whether the tremors they felt were real.

No damages or loss of life were reported from any of the affected cities.

In May this year, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake rocked Afghanistan and various parts of Pakistan, sending people racing out of buildings in the two capitals and injuring at least 13 people and damaging dozens of homes in both countries.

Earlier in January, a minor girl was killed and at least 15 others injured as a 6.1-magnitude earthquake jolted various parts of the country.