Tremors felt in KP, Punjab yet again after quake hits Afghan-Tajik border
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Tremors were felt in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab — including Peshawar, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore — for the second time in as many weeks as a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck near the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region on Saturday, authorities said.
The earthquake occurred at around 11:48am and measured 5.9 on the Richter scale, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).
It struck at a depth of 94 kilometres with its epicentre in the border region of Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
However, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said the earthquake had a 5.8-magnitude and was at a depth of 92km, while the United States Geological Survey put the magnitude at 5.7 and depth at 94km.
Several districts in KP were jolted as a result but no loss of life or damage was reported, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmad Faizi said.
Tremors were felt in Battagram, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Shangla, Nowshera, Peshawar and Swabi districts, causing people to come out of buildings, according to a Dawn.com correspondent.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), quoting initial reports in a statement, said jolts were felt in various cities there, including Lahore, Gujrat and Faisalabad.
“The administrations across the entire Punjab are inspecting buildings,” the PDMA director general was quoted as saying. He added that the teams and machinery had been kept on alert to “deal with the aftershocks of the earthquake”.
Any damages caused by the earthquake can be reported to the PDMA by calling its 1129 helpline, the statement said.
A week ago, no casualties were reported after a 5.5-magnitude earthquake struck near Islamabad and Rawalpindi. That tremor came an hour after separate quakes, measuring 4.3 and 3.8 on the Richter scale, hit the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region.
Pakistan witnessed around 20 low-intensity earthquakes in the first half of February — an average of more than one tremor each day.
However, experts had pointed out that such minor seismic activities “preempt” high-intensity earthquakes by constantly releasing accumulated energy within the tectonic plates.
Pakistan falls on three major tectonic plates — the Arabian, Euro-Asian and Indian — according to geological engineer Muhammad Rehan, creating five seismic zones within the country.
Additional input from Humayun Baber, Reuters
