ISLAMABAD: An earthquake measuring 5.9 magnitude was reported in the parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab on Friday.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The jolts were felt in Swat, Upper Dir, Lahore, Peshawar, Nowshera, Malakand, Abbottabad, Sargodha, Rawlakot, Muzaffarabad, Bagh, Lower Dir, Khyber Agency, Mardan, Skardu, Cھarsadda, Shangla, Bisham, Swabi, Islamabad and adjoining areas.
The earthquake hit at a depth of 227 kilometres near Afghanistan-Tajikistan border, sending people fleeing shaking buildings, prompting fears of aftershocks.
In October last year, a 7.5-magnitude quake in the same region ripped across Pakistan and Afghanistan, killing nearly 400 people and flattening buildings in rugged terrain.
For many in Pakistan, October‘s quake brought back traumatic memories of a 7.6-magnitude quake that struck in October 2005, killing more than 75,000 people and displacing some 3.5 million.
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. In Nepal, a quake in April and a strong aftershock in May killed more than 8,900 people. DNA