The quake was centered in the province of Baluchistan, the most sparsely populated country, said U.S. Geological Survey, which occurs at 1:30 am local time at a depth of about 50 miles (84 km.
Its epicenter was in a remote area southwest about 200 miles (320 kilometers) from the capital of Baluchistan, Quetta, Pakistan, said chief meteorologist Arif Mahmood, not far from the border with Afghanistan.
The closest town to the epicenter was Dalbandin, with a population around 15,000 people and is so remote that the nearby hills were the scene of 1,998 Chagai Pakistan's nuclear tests.
No damage was reported in Dalbandin. However, another city near the epicenter, Karan, did not suffer major damage, said Fatah Bangar, Assistant Commissioner Karan. The city was some 45 miles (70 kilometers) from the epicenter, said.
Nasir Baluch, a police officer in Karan, said several mud houses collapsed or were damaged in an area outside the city called Mashkil. There was no immediate information on casualties, but the area is sparsely populated, he said.
No major damage occurred in Quetta well, but the quake caused panic in the city, residents said.
Local television reports said the quake was felt across a number of other provinces. Many residents in the country's largest city, Karachi, ran into the street after the earthquake began, said the reports.
Karachi resident Mohammad Zubair said he was watching a cricket match on television when the bed started shaking.
"I jumped up, convinced it was an earthquake," said the 28-year-old. "My mother started reciting verses from the Koran, and rushed out."
Tremors of at least 20 seconds also felt as far away as Dubai in the UAE and in the capital of India, New Delhi.
Earthquakes often cause difficulties for the region. A 7.6-magnitude quake on October 8, 2005, killed about 80,000 people in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir and left more than 3 million homeless.
0 comments:
Post a Comment