Six dead after 6.6 earthquake shakes South Asia

Six dead after strong earthquake hits major cities across South Asia, authorities say

An injured Pakistani boy arriving at a hospital following an earthquake in Peshawar, on April 10, 2016
TRT World and Agencies

An injured Pakistani boy arriving at a hospital following an earthquake in Peshawar, on April 10, 2016

Six people were killed after a magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit South Asia on the weekend which rattled the Afghan and Pakistan capitals, authorities said.

US Geological Survey (USGS) said on Sunday that an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 hit South Asia on Sunday, shaking buildings in the Afghan and Pakistan capitals.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

According to The US Geological Survey, the quake struck at a depth of about 210 km.

TRT World and Agencies

Residents left their homes in Kabul and Islamabad when the quake struck, with buildings swaying for well over a minute in both capitals. Similar reports were received from across northern and central Pakistan.

People in the Pakistani city of Lahore, 630 km from the epicentre, also reported they had felt the tremors.

Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said five people were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Another was killed in northern Gilgit-Baltistan state, NDMA added.

A 7.5-magnitude quake struck the area on Oct. 26 last year, killing more than 300 people and destroying thousands of homes.

In Kabul, Omar Mohammadi, a spokesman for the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, said officials were collecting information but no reports of casualties or damage had been received so far.

Tremors were also felt in the Indian capital and in Kashmir, witnesses said, with some people working in high-rise buildings in the Indian capital rushing into the streets. The Delhi underground system was also halted briefly, commuters told the NDTV channel.

The Hindu Kush area bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan is a seismically active area, with quakes often felt across the region. Just over a decade ago, a 7.6-magnitude quake in another part of northern Pakistan killed about 75,000 people.

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