An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale struck Islamabad and several cities in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir in the wee hours of Wednesday, reported 24NewsHDTV Channel.
According to details, tremors were felt in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Zafarwal, Sarai Alamgir, Peshawar, Nowshera, Mardan, Abbottabad, Haripur, Swat, Chitral, Shangla, Malakand, Muzaffarbad, Bhimber, and several other cities.
People came out of their homes in panic and started reciting verses from the Holy Quran.
No loss of life and property was reported from any part of the country so far.
According to National Seismic Monitoring Centre in Islamabad, the epicenter of the earthquake was located in the Hindukush Mountainous Range in Afghanistan at a depth of 121 kilometres.
It may be mentioned here that recently a string of earthquakes had struck Pakistan.
On the night of April 15, a 4.7-magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Mingora city and its suburbs in the Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
On April 13, an earthquake of 4.1 magnitude had jolted Mingora city and its adjacent areas. According to the epicentre, the depth of the earthquake was 60 kilometres, while its epicentre was in Koh-e-Hindukush.
On April 12, a strong earthquake struck a number of cities in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, causing tremors that were also felt in Azad Kashmir city of Rawalakot.
The earthquake of 5.5 magnitude was felt in different parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and tremors were also experienced in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Gujranwala, and Rawalakot.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, tremors were also felt in Peshawar, Mardan, Mohmand, Mansehra, DI Khan, and Shabqadar.
5.6-magnitude quake rattles Philippines
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck off the southern Philippines on Wednesday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, with no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The quake off the coast of the island of Mindanao had a depth of 30 kilometres (18.6 miles), the USGS added.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology placed the epicentre about 43 kilometres southwest of the town of Maitum, located in a mountainous and sparsely populated area.
Local authorities told AFP early indications were that the quake had caused no significant damage.
"It was strong but didn't last long. We have checked but it was negative (for damage or casualties)," said Gilbert Rolifor, a fire department official in Maitum.
Quakes are a daily occurrence in the Philippines, which sits along the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Most are too weak to be felt by humans, but strong and destructive quakes come at random with no technology available to predict when and where they will happen.–AFP