Earthquake of magnitude 6 jolts Islamabad, Lahore, KP cities

An earthquake measuring magnitude 6 Thursday jolted Islamabad, Lahore and other cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). 

The tremors were felt at around 2:20pm today with its depth recorded at 213 kilometres.

The epicenter of the earthquake was the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan, said the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

Other cities that rocked after the jolts include Punjab’s Sargodha, Khushab and its surroundings, Mandi Bahauddin, Bhakkar and Nowshera.

The earthquake was also felt in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Muzaffarabad and Neelum valley, while KP cities include Peshawar, Kohat, Shabqadar, Abbottabad, Lower Dir, Mianwali, Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan, Deerbala, Dera Ismail Khan, Hangu, Diamir, Parachinar, Bannu.

"I was sitting in the office when the qauke hit [...] We had to rush out of the building," Saeed Ur Rehman, 40, told Geo.tv from Lahore.

Natural disasters such as earthquakes are not uncommon in Pakistan, as the country is situated on the boundary of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.

Large parts of South Asia are seismically active because a tectonic plate known as the Indian plate is pushing north into the Eurasian plate.

Recent earthquakes underscore the importance of disaster preparedness and mitigation measures.