An earthquake of 5.5 magnitude struck near Islamabad and Rawalpindi on Saturday afternoon, while the tremors also felt in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from another previous earthquake.
The earthquake in Pakistan measured 5.5 on the Richter scale and occurred at 12:30 pm, according to the National Seismic Monitoring Center (NSMC). In addition, he said that the earthquake reached a depth of 12 kilometers, with its epicenter located 60 km northwest of Rawalpindi.
However, according to the United States Geological Service, the earthquake measured 5.0 on the Richter scale and had a depth of 39.2 km.
There were no immediate reports of earthquake damage.
TO Dawnnewstv The correspondent in Islamabad reported that people gathered outside the buildings after experiencing the tremors.
Meanwhile, a separate earthquake of 4.3 magnitude also shook the border region of Afghanistan-Tajikistan about 35 minutes before, the NSMC said.
He added that the 11:54 AM earthquake had an epicenter with a depth of 88 km.
Parts of KP, including Shangla, Swat, Mardan, Abbottabad, Haripur, Mansehra and Kohistan, felt the tremors of that earthquake, according to a Dawn.com The correspondent that pointed out that Jolts in KP and Islamabad felt at different times.
Later, a Dawnnewstv The correspondent in Peshawar also reported that several KP cities shook after the magnitude earthquake 5.5.
Jolts also felt in the Hazara Division of KP and the Swabi district, according to another Dawn.com correspondent.
The border region of Afghanistan-Tajikistan also experienced a shock of 3.8 magnitude at 11:26 am, with a depth of 109 km, the NSMC declared.
Pakistan witnessed around 20 earthquakes of low intensity in the first half of February, an average of more than one tremor every day.
However, experts had pointed out that such minor seismic activities “are ahead of the high intensity earthquakes by constantly releasing accumulated energy within tectonic plates.
Pakistan falls to three important tectonic plates, Arabic, Euro-Asian and Indian, according to the geological engineer Muhammad Rean, creating five seismic areas within the country.
Additional contribution of Humayun Baber
