New Delhi: Tremors were felt in the north India early on Saturday after an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale jolted the central Asia region near Afghanistan, the US Geological Survey said.
According to the National Seismology division of Ministry of Earth Sciences, the epicentre was in Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan that rocked the neighbouring Pakistan too. The earthquake was measured 6.5 on the Richter scale and it was 186 km deep.
The earthquake occurred at 12:44 AM, India Meteorological department said. There was no report of any loss of life or damage to property till the last reports came in.
People in the national capital region rushed out of their homes. Jammu and Kashmir also felt the tremors. People in the Kashmir region rushed to safety in chilling cold after feeling the quake.
An official of the Meteorological department in J&K said that it would be premature to say whether there has been any loss of life or damage to property in the state due to the earthquake.
“Right now, we cannot say whether any damage (to life or property) has taken place. Anything in this regard can be said after we have all the details,” he said.
Soon after the earth shook, people ran out of their houses in the open as they feared that the buildings might collapse.
“We were fast asleep when suddenly the earth shook and we rushed out in the open to save ourselves as we feared that the house might collapse,” Surjeet Kaur, a local resident of Jammu said.
Reports of earthquake spreading panic also poured in from other districts of Jammu region.
Mobile network also faced congestion with worried relatives calling each other to inquire about the well being of their family members.
Social media and social networking sites were flooded with the messages of earthquake.
37 injured in Pakistan
At least 37 people were injured when an earthquake jolted Pakistani capital Islamabad and parts of east Punjab in the wee hours of Saturday.
The capital city Peshawar of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was the worst-hit area from where the all 37 casualties were reported.
The provincial authorities have imposed a state of emergency in all the three major hospitals in Peshawar and in neighbouring Nowshera district to facilitate the injured people.
Ghulam Rasool, Director General of Pakistan, said that the quake's focal depth was in the Hindukush mountain ranges along Afghanistan-Tajikistan border.
He said that the earthquake's duration was 59 seconds in parts of the country, adding that several mild to moderate aftershocks hit the country in the next few hours.
