MUZAFFARGARH: An earthquake of 4.8 magnitude shook Kot Addu and its surroundings on Sunday night while cracks appeared in roofs and walls of many houses.

At 9:28pm, tremors were felt at Taunsa Barrage, Layyah and Sananwan areas of Kot Addu city. Locals came out of their houses and started offering prayer.

Rescue officials told this correspondent that according to the seismological centre, the epicentre of the earthquake was 17km away from Kot Addu city and its depth was 12km.

In Kot Addu, cracks appeared in many buildings and walls of houses and the people got panicky.

On the website of seismological centre, only Kot Addu district was mentioned in Pakistan where tremors were felt.

Rescue officials said no casualties were reported.

Malik Khadim Hussain, a resident of Head Taunsa Barrage, told this correspondent that he felt jolts and a blast occurred in Kot Addu’s surroundings where the people announced in mosques to come out of houses. Some people uploaded pictures showing cracks in buildings in the wake of the tremors.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2023