- By Joel Guinto & Yogita Limaye
- BBC news
Image source, Getty Images
The 6.5 magnitude earthquake sent people rushing out of their homes
At least 12 people have been killed and more than 200 injured after a powerful earthquake shook large parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The 6.5-magnitude quake destroyed buildings, triggered landslides and sent people running into the streets.
It struck on Tuesday night, centered on a mountainous region in north-eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan.
Tremors from the remote Jurm valley were felt as far as India.
“It was a terrible tremor. I have never felt such a tremor before in my life,” Kabul resident Khatera told AFP news agency after rushing out of his fifth-floor apartment.
Nine of the confirmed deaths were reported in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa valley region.
Three more have died in Afghanistan, a spokesman for the country’s health ministry said. A child was among those killed in Laghman province near the country’s border with Pakistan, AFP reported. Many families were out of their homes to celebrate the Persian New Year or Norwuz when the earthquake hit.
The remoteness and rough terrain of the affected areas will likely slow down recovery and rescue efforts.
Telephone lines were affected, and in Pakistan the highway in the worst-hit area of Swat was blocked by a landslide.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asked disaster agencies to take emergency measures to help people.
Tremors were felt in a 1,000-km area spanning India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center.
Earthquakes are more likely in this region because it is located at the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
With additional reporting by BBC Urdu in Islamabad
