ISLAMABAD, Sept 25 (NNN-APP) – A powerful 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck northeast Pakistan on Tuesday, badly damaging scores of homes and shops and killing at least 22 people and injuring over 700, officials said.
The quake badly damaged a key road leading to the town of Mirpur in the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir and adjoining villages, where most of the damage was located.
Mushtaf Minhas, information minister in Pakistan-held Kashmir, said 22 people, including women and children, were killed in the quake, mostly due to collapsing roofs and walls.
Talking from Mirpur of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, Atiq-ur-Rehman, an eyewitness, said, several buildings have collapsed in his area, when the tremors hit it.
Meanwhile, officials told local media that, they have declared a state of emergency in the area, and evaluation of the damages is being made.
The earthquake hit parts of Pakistan on Tuesday, officials from the country’s National Seismic Monitoring Centre said, adding that, its epicentre was determined in Jhelum district, located some 119 km southeast of the national capital, Islamabad.
The officials added that the earthquake originated at 10 km under the earth, a situation quite vulnerable to create damages in nearby areas.
The strong tremors were also felt in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and capital Islamabad.
Pakistan has a history of serious earthquakes, as it is located at one of the most earthquake-prone areas with high vulnerability to earthquakes.
Seismology experts say, most of the earthquakes originate in the region because of the intersection of three large mountain ranges, the Hindu Kush, the Himalayas and the Karakoram.
Meanwhile, the earthquake hit parts of northern India, including Indian-controlled-Kashmir and the northern state of Punjab, Indian media reported, measuring it as 6.3-magnitude.
So far, there has been no reports of damage or life loss in India.– NNN-APP
