5.4 magnitude earthquake jolts Islamabad, KP cities

An earthquake Thursday jolted Islamabad and cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Meanwhile, the KP cities rocked by the quake tremors include Peshawar, Swat, North Waziristan, Hangu, Mardan, Malakand, Buner, Shangla, Dir, Mansehra, Bitgram, Torghar, Kohistan Abbottabad and Kurram.

The tremors have also been felt in Punjab cities including Lahore, Multan, Chakwal and Sargodha.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said that the earthquake originated at 10:57am Pakistan Standard Time (PST) and had a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale.

The epicentre of the quake, the Met Office added, was in the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan at a depth of 215 kilometres.

Today's tremors come nearly two months after a 4.7 magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Islamabad, Rawalpindi and KP in June.

The quake was preceded by another one of 3.2 magnitude in Karachi in the same month.

In May, a 2.3 magnitude earthquake jolted parts of the metropolis including Gadap Town, Katohar and adjoining areas of Malir district.

Before that, a 3.2 magnitude earthquake jolted Karachi's Malir district on April 24.

It is pertinent to mention that 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.