By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: At least nine people have been killed and more than 40 injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, after a powerful earthquake struck large parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan late on Tuesday, government officials said.
The 6.5-magnitude quake damaged buildings, triggered landslides and sent people running into the streets.
The epicenter registered 40 kilometers (24 miles) southeast of the Afghan town of Jurm in the Hindu Kush Mountain range at 187.6 kilometers (116 miles) deep, the United States Geological Survey reported.
Pakistan’s Meteorological Department put the magnitude slightly higher at 6.8 and later reported a 3.7 magnitude aftershock in the Hindu Kush region along the country’s border with Afghanistan.
Tremors were felt over a 1,000-km area that spans India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.
Tremors from the earthquake were felt across Pakistan, including in Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Quetta, Peshawar, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, and other cities.
Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said at least nine people died – including two children – as houses and other buildings collapsed in KPK.
The PDMA reported that at least 19 houses across the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were damaged partially due to the earthquake tremors.
Ensuing landslides also blocked roads in the northern city of Abbottabad, according to Bilal Faizi, spokesperson for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial rescue services.
Television channels showed landslides damaged a cattle farm in Yasin Ghizer, resulting in the death of livestock.
Videos from Islamabad show panic-stricken people, especially those living in high-rises, rushing out of their homes.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has asked disaster agencies to take emergency measures to help people.
Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel directed officials to put Poly Clinic and Pims hospitals on high alert. He asked the hospitals’ administration to prepare themselves to deal with any emergency.
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