An earthquake of magnitude 6 jolted several parts of the country including Islamabad, Peshawar, and Lahore among other cities.
The tremors were felt in several areas of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the epicentre of the earthquake was the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan and the depth of the quake was 213km.
Other cities that rocked after the jolts include Punjab’s Sargodha, Khushab and its surroundings, Mandi Bahauddin, Bhakkar and Nowshera.
The earthquake was also felt in AJK’s Muzaffarabad and Neelum valley, while KP cities include Peshawar, Kohat, Shabqadar, Abbottabad, Lower Dir, Mianwali, Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan, Deerbala, Dera Ismail Khan, Hangu, Diamir, Parachinar, Bannu.
“I was sitting in the office when the quake hit […] We had to rush out of the building,” Saeed Ur Rehman, 40, told Geo.tv from Lahore.
Natural disasters such as 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.
Recent earthquakes underscore the importance of disaster preparedness and mitigation measures.