Earthquake shocks Islamabad, adjoining areas

ISLAMABAD: A moderate-level earthquake was reported from Islamabad including Rawalpindi, Peshawar, and its adjoining areas on Thursday, ARY News reported.

Residents of Kohat, Lower Dir, Chitral, and Girdo districts experienced tremors from an earthquake. Similar seismic activity was reported in Shangla, Buner, Malakand, Swat, and Girdo districts as well.

The magnitude of the quake was recorded at 5.3 on the Richter Scale, meanwhile, the epicenter of the earthquake was the Afghan-Tajikistan border areas, and its depth was 86 kilometers.

The earthquake left people fearful, prompting them to evacuate their homes for safety.

Read more: Magnitude 4.2 earthquake jolts Balochistan’s Zhob

Earlier, an earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale jolted Balochistan’s Zhob district and its adjoining areas.

According to the National Seismic Monitoring Centre, the depth of the earthquake was 15km and the epicenter was 123 km in the north.

However, no loss of life or damage to property was reported from any part Zhob so far.

On January 6, parts of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday experienced a 6.0 magnitude earthquake.

The earthquake tremors were felt in Swat, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Islamabad, Lahore, Swabi, Kohat, Abbottabad, Sargodha, Peshawar, Batgram, Khyber, Landi Kotal, Barra, Chitral and other parts of Pakistan.

According to the seismological center, the depth of the earthquake was 213 kilometers, while the epicenter was in the Hindukush region. People came out of their houses in fear by reciting Kalma-e-Tayyaba.