Earthquake jolts parts of Pakistan: Report

Earthquake jolts parts of Pakistan: Report

ISLAMABAD - Earthquake has jolted parts of Pakistan today. Media reports have surfaced that Peshawar, Swat, Haripur and Sargodha have suffered jolts. Many other parts of KP and Punjab have also reported earthquake jolts.

Yesterday magnitude 6.2 earthquake rocked various parts of Pakistan on Wednesday, sending people racing out of buildings in the two capitals and injuring at least 13 people and damaging dozens of homes in both countries.

The quake struck at 1041 GMT near Afghanistan's border with Tajikistan in the Hindu Kush mountains at a depth of 111 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.

Omer Mohammadi, a spokesman for Afghanistan's disaster management authority, said two small children were injured when their home collapsed and one of them was listed in critical condition.

Abdul Razak Zinda, a senior official at a disaster management agency, said 45 houses were damaged in three districts in the northeastern Takhar province of Afghanistan. He said three people were injured.

In Islamabad and Kabul, people fled their offices and homes and recited verses from the Holy Quran in the streets. *AFP* correspondents in the capital Kabul felt the ground move for at least a minute in the second quake that came a few hours after the first.

In Peshawar, people rushed into the streets following the tremor, fearing aftershocks, witnesses told *AFP*.

Earlier on Wednesday, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake rattled parts of western Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan. That quake caused a stampede at a school in Bannu, injuring at least 10 students, according to Mohammad Aslam, a local police official.

Taimoor Khan, a senior official at the provincial disaster management authority in Peshawar, said the quake did not cause damages to buildings, but they were still waiting for the final report from remote areas near Afghanistan.