QUAKE KILLS 22 IN PoK
TREMORS IN PUNJAB, HRY, J&K, NCR
MUZAFFARABAD: A magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook northern Pakistan, roughly 120 km from Islamabad, on Tuesday, destroying buildings, cracking roads, killing 22 people and injuring dozens more, officials said. The tremors were also felt in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K and NCR.
CHANDIGARH/NEWDELHI: A powerful 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck northeast Pakistan on Tuesday shook north India, including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and the National Capital Region too.
The tremors that hit the region at 4.30pm lasted for 8-10 seconds. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the earthquake in India, which IMD said, had hit at a depth of 40 km.
“The epicentre was near the India-Pakistan border. The closest big city to the epicentre is Rawalpindi (in Pakistan’s Punjab province),” said JL Gautam, head of operations at the National Centre for Seismology.
Amritsar is around 184 km, Anantnag 187km, Srinagar 193km and Batala 199km from the epicentre.
The tremors were quite strong and the panic-stricken people rushed out of their houses and offices.
The earthquake revived memories of the October 2005 Kashmir earthquake. The 7.6 magnitude also had its epicentre in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir and led to large scale devastation on both sides of the Line of Control. More than 73,000 people had died and about 3.5 million were left homeless by this earthquake.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the epicentre was 3 kilometres from New Mirpur city, the capital of Mirpur district and the largest city of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
THERE WERE NO IMMEDIATE REPORTS OF CASUALTIES OR DAMAGE FROM THE EARTHQUAKE IN INDIA