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Multiple cities in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as the federal capital, reported feeling an earthquake on Saturday evening, hours after two quakes jolted Balochistan.
According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the earthquake struck at 6:35pm. Its epicentre was in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region, with a magnitude of 5.9 and a depth of 178 kilometres.
The PMD said the tremors were felt in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Mansehra, Shangla, Swat, Chakwal, Abbottabad, Taxila, Haripur and Buner.
The Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), meanwhile, reported that tremors were also felt in Lahore, Faisalabad and Attock.
In its report, the PDMA said that the relevant authorities were inspecting buildings in the affected areas for damage and that the provincial control room and district emergency centres were active 24/7.
Punjab Rescue 1122 spokesperson Farooq Ahmad said that they did not receive any reports of damage or injury to anyone after the earthquake.
Separately, Balochistan recorded three earthquakes on Saturday, with officials reporting three injuries following the first two tremors in the province.
Officials said at least three people were injured after two earthquakes of 5.2- and 4.3-magnitude jolted a vast area of Balochistan, including Barkhan district, earlier in the day.
A third earthquake of magnitude 4.2 was recorded at 8:30pm, with its epicentre located 50km northwest of Kohlu and having a depth of 12km, the PMD said.
The depth of the 5.2-magnitude earthquake, which struck at 8:06am, was 19 kilometres, while its epicentre was located 52 kilometres north-east of Barkhan, according to the PDMA and the National Seismic Monitoring Centre (NSMC).
However, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) put its magnitude at 5.4, with a depth of 10km. Officials said other areas struck by the earthquake included Rakhni, Kohlu and Musakhail.
The earthquake followed a 4.3-magnitude tremor whose epicentre was located in the same area. Its depth was recorded at 42km, NSMC said. USGS said the quake struck at 5:45am, with a depth of 10km.
The PDMA said that two labourers were injured when the roof of a shop collapsed due to a quake felt in Musakhail district.
Another man, Fazal, sustained injuries when his house collapsed, northwest of Musakhail’s Kingri area.
Officials of the PDMA and local administration rushed to the affected areas and launched a rescue operation after receiving reports of the earthquakes.
According to the local administration, cracks appeared in the walls of mud houses and a large number of people have abandoned their houses and erected tents.
On Friday, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake jolted the same area, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).
In a press release, the PMD said the quake’s epicentre was 60km northeast of Kohlu and that it was felt in the Zhob, Barkhan and Rakhni areas.
On Monday, a 5.4-magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Islamabad.
According to the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), the earthquake measured 6.2 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre located in Afghanistan.
The tremors were also felt in Pakistan, including the capital city of Islamabad, Swat, Hangu, North Waziristan, Chitral, and Rawalpindi, as well as in China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan.
The tremors triggered panic in parts of New Delhi, with residents rushing out of their homes and offices.
“The quake occurred at 7:04 pm IST at a depth of 215 kilometres, with tremors felt across parts of Pakistan and northwest India. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage,” a weather report said.
Owing to its significant depth, the tremors were experienced across a wide geographical area. However, deep-focus earthquakes are generally less likely to cause extensive damage at the surface, the report said.
“India recorded a shallow 3.2-magnitude earthquake in Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district on June 27,” the NCS said earlier in the day.
The NCS said the quake struck at 11:38 am IST at a depth of 5 km, with its epicentre located about 22 km north-northwest of Dharamsala in the seismically active Himalayan belt.
The tremor was classified as low intensity, and there were no reports of damage or casualties.
The latest earthquakes come just days after twin earthquakes in Venezuela reportedly killed 920 people and injured thousands.