A 6.6-earthquake has struck Afghanistan shaking a number of major cities across south-west Asia.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the quake struck close to Afghanistan’s border with Tajikistan at 10:28 GMT.
The tremor was felt in Kabul, Islamabad, Lahore and Delhi, forcing residents to leave their homes.
In October 2015, a magnitude-7.5 quake in the same border area killed close to 300 people.
The latest quake, in the sparsely-populated Hindu Kush mountains, struck at a depth of 210km, the USGS reported. It was the same depth as the 2015 quake.
At least one person died in Pakistan’s Swat region, with another 30 injured, emergency officials said.
There were no reports of significant damage, but a spokesman for Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority said there was a high risk of landslides.
The USGS says the earthquake took place in “one of the most seismically hazardous regions on earth”.
The Hindu Kush mountains sit on the corner of the Indian plate, rather than being at the front line of the continental collision, where the Himalayas are thrust upwards as India disappears beneath Eurasia at a rate of 2ins per year.
It is in this rugged region that the sideways slip between India and Afghanistan meets the head-on impact of the Himalayan fault line. There are many small, interacting faults and forces pushing in different directions.
Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported on April 9 that the region had been shaken by a series of strong quakes centered on Hindu Kush in recent days.
A 6.7-magnitude earthquake has hit northeast India, near its borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh, killing at least nine people.
The quake hit at 04:35 local time on January 4 about 18 miles northwest of Imphal, the capital of Manipur state, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Strong tremors have been felt across the region.
The quake was originally reported to have measured 6.8-magnitude.
India’s Meteorological Department said the tremor struck at a depth of 10 miles.
Photo AP
The quake cracked walls and a newly-built six-storey building in Imphal collapsed, police said. Other buildings were also reported to have been damaged.
At least six people have been killed in Manipur and more than 30 injured, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
In the neighburing Bangladesh, three people were reported dead while dozens were being treated in hospital for injuries sustained during the quake.
A 23-year-old man died when he suffered a stroke after the quake while two others died of heart attacks, AFP quoted police as saying.
A university student, who jumped from a fourth-floor balcony to escape, was among the critically wounded, the agency added.
Deepak Shijagurumayum, a resident of Imphal, told AFP by phone that his house was severely damaged by the quake.
Shaking was felt as far away as Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), 370 miles away.
Indian PM Narendra Modi tweeted that he had spoken to the region’s chief ministers and federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh “on the situation arising in the wake of the earthquake”.
Casualties have not yet been reported on the Myanmar side of the border, which is sparsely populated.
The region has a history of powerful earthquakes caused by the northward collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates. They are moving towards each other at a rate of 4-5cm per year.
A 7.5-magnitude earthquake has struck northern Afghanistan, with tremors felt in Pakistan and northern India.
At least 51 people are said to have been killed in Pakistan, with 19 deaths reported in Afghanistan.
According to the US Geological Survey, the tremor was centered in the mountainous Hindu Kush region, 46 miles south of Faizabad.
Buildings were evacuated in the capitals of all three countries and communications disrupted in many areas.
In the Afghan province of Takhar, a stampede at a girls’ school triggered by the quake left 12 students dead and another 25 were injured, local reports said.
Seven people have been reported killed and 71 injured in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.
In Pakistan, 28 people have been killed in the northern tribal areas, another 20 in the north-west and three more in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, officials told AFP news agency.
Officials said the quake happened at a depth of 212km. The magnitude was initially put at 7.7 but later downgraded.
An aftershock measured at 4.8-magnitude struck shortly afterwards.
People in the Indian capital Delhi ran into the streets after the tremor struck, and schools and offices were evacuated. The Delhi metro was also briefly halted.
Indian PM Narendra Modi tweeted that he had ordered an urgent assessment of any damage.
“We stand ready for assistance where required, including Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said.
The region has a history of powerful earthquakes caused by the northward collision of India with central Asia.
In 2005, a magnitude 7.6-magnitude earthquake in Pakistan-administered Kashmir left more than 75,000 people dead.
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