Earthquake jolts parts of up-country including Swat, Abbottabad
- By Web Desk -
- Oct 01, 2016
ISLAMABAD: A sudden and violent shaking of the earth’s surface panicked residents in major areas of the upper country on Saturday.
Tremors were felt in areas including Swat, Abbottabad, Batagram, Shangla and Chillas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, ARY News reported.
An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale hit the areas with an epicentre approximately 10 kilometres beneath the earth near Pakpattan.
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Following tremors, many evacuated their homes and buildings amid fears of further shocks.
No loss of life or damage to property has been reported thus far.
Pakistan is situated at the north-western side of the Indian subcontinent and overlaps both with the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates.
The country’s Sindh and Punjab provinces lie on the north-western corner of the Indian plate while Balochistan and most of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa lie within the Eurasian plate which mainly comprises the Iranian plateau, some parts of the Middle East and Central Asia.
The country has a history of earthquakes. The Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir lie mainly in Central Asia along the edge of the Indian plate and hence are prone to violent earthquakes where the two tectonic plates collide.