ISLAMABAD - Three children sustained injuries in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Battagram district after two earthquakes jolted parts of the country on Sunday.
According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the first earthquake of magnitude 6.0 — with its epicentre being the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region — struck at 10:50am, at a depth of 223km. The second earthquake of magnitude 4.7 was reported at 5:57pm. Its epicentre was near Jalalabad in Afghanistan and struck at a depth of 15km, PDM said.
Tremors were felt around 10:52am in Islamabad, Peshawar, Swat, Haripur, Malakand, Abbotabad, Mansehra, Mardan, Khanpur, Battagram, Muzaffarabad, Texlia, Pind Dadan Khan, Pasroor, Chinab Nagar and other cities of the country. People rushed outside their residential and other properties while reciting Kalima Tayyaba. Officials said tremors were felt in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. While no casualties were reported, three children were injured in the Hado area of Batkol in Battagram.
Dr Muhammad Naeem, medical superintendent of the District Headquarters Hospital Battagram, told media that three children were brought to facility earlier on Sunday. Hamid Khan, the children’s uncle, said the siblings were playing on the roof of the cattle pen which collapsed during the earthquake.
Meanwhile, the US Geological Survey, an American government agency that tracks seismic activity across the globe, said that a 5.2 magnitude earthquake had struck 35km southeast of Jurm, Afghanistan. Indian media reported that “mild earthquake tremors” were felt in New Delhi and its adjoining areas.