A 6.8-magnitude earthquake shook parts of Pakistan and regions bordering Afghanistan and Tajikistan around 3.58 pm on Sunday. Six deaths have been reported so far in Pakistan, two people died in Buner and Swat areas of KP province, while one died in Diamer area of Gilgit-Baltistan region, an official of the National Disaster Management Authority was quoted as saying. He added that 28 people were reportedly injured in the provincial capital Peshawar alone.Tremors were felt for several minutes. Its epicentre lay 39 km from Ashkasham and 282 km northeast of Kabul, in Afghanistan. The impact was strongest across a 200 km area, according to data from European Mediterranean Seismological Centre. Tremors were felt across north India, including Delhi and National Capital Region, Kashmir and Uttarakhand. The metro rail service in Delhi was halted following the quake as a precautionary measure. Radio Pakistan reported that strong tremors were felt across Peshawar, Chitral, Swat, Gilgit, Faisalabad and Lahore. Several parts in northern India, including Chandigarh and Kashmir felt the tremors that continued for at least 5 minutes, the initial tremor felt was at 4.01 pm.
According to some experts, the earthquake was measured at 7.1 magnitude on the Richter scale. The entire area in North India including Kashmir, Leh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh shook. Germany’s GFZ Research Center for Geosciences set the quake’s magnitude at 6.5 on Richter scale. According to some reports, the tremors were also felt in Madhya Pradesh towns like Gwalior, Bhind, Morena and Bhopal, but did not last for long. The actual timing was 3.59 pm at the very spot of the quake in Hindukush.
Video: Strong earthquake hits Afghanistan, with tremors felt in India and China’s northwestern Xinjiang regionhttps://t.co/L7ZLHmrN9H
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) April 10, 2016
According to Reuters report, the earthquake was centred around Chitral in Pakistan at a depth of 210 km (130 miles). The epicenter of the earthquake was in Tectonic region called Hindukush mountain range in Afghanistan – the quake happened at 280 km depth. Any quake over 200 km depth has the potential to wreak massive damage on surface, according to experts. But since the epicentre was in a sparsely populated area, the damage is not expected to be widespread or heavy in terms of loss of human life and destruction to property.People across these areas rushed out of their homes in panic. Tremors were felt in Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Swat Valley, Chitral, and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. Delhi Metro had stopped its services due to the heavy intensity of the earthquake.
The Metro authorities say that according to a pre-arranged plan, train services are stopped for 2 minutes and thereafter, when the services resume, train speed is reduced considerably. In Mohali, near Chandigarh, where IPL 2016 match is to be played, player Aaron Finch tweeted how the event played out where he is staying. He says the hotel where he is staying has been evacuated.
Metro services halted in Delhi after powerful earthquake triggers tremors https://t.co/t06VPHOATA pic.twitter.com/lTu2fTSyyS
— NDTV (@ndtv) April 10, 2016
6.6 magnitude earthquake strikes Pakistan, tremors in north India including Delhi https://t.co/NSWNbkNZM6https://t.co/oJcApYwTf2
— NDTV (@ndtv) April 10, 2016
Mag: 6.6 – Depth: 210 km – UTC 10:28 AM – Ashkasham, Afghanistan – USGS Info: https://t.co/aaEUHsMnpk
— Earthquakes Tsunamis (@Quake_Tracker4) April 10, 2016
Mag: 4.4 – Depth: 10 km – UTC 8:48 AM – Izu Islands, Japan Region – EMSC Info: https://t.co/aaEUHsMnpk
— Earthquakes Tsunamis (@Quake_Tracker4) April 10, 2016