8 dead, including 3 children, and over 100 injured in Pak's 5.8 magnitude quake – Livemint, Livemint.com

NEW DELHI: A powerful 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck northeast Pakistan on Tuesday, damaging dozens of homes and shops and killing at least 19 people and injuring over 300, officials said, AP reported.

According to state-run Pakistan Television, four children were among the dead in Mirpur, a town in the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir.

Raja Qaiser, a deputy commissioner in the region, said rescuers were still transporting victims to hospitals in the city, where an emergency was declared.

He said a main road near Mirpur was also badly damaged, causing accidents and damaging buses and other vehicles.

TV footage showed damaged homes, shops and vehicles in Mirpur, where a breach at a main canal was submerging villages.

Tremors were felt across Delhi, the national capital region, Punjab and Haryana and no immediate casualties or damages were reported.

“The epicentre of the earthquake was Pakistan-India border, Jammu and Kashmir region. The magnitude of the quake was 6.3 on the Richter scale. Even we felt the tremors here in the office. Tremors were felt across Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, “JL Gautam, Director Operation, National Center for Seismology told ANI.

The epicentre of the shallow 5.8-magnitude was near the Pakistan Occupied Kashmiri city of Mirpur, roughly (kilometres) 14 miles) north of Jhelum in agricultural Punjab province, according to the US Geological Survey.

“The (most) damage is in areas between Jhelum and Mirpur,” said the chief of Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority, Lieutenant General Mohammad Afzal.

“The quake was 10 kilometers deep and was felt in most of Punjab province, some parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The worst hit was Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, “Pakistan’s chief meteorologist Muhammad Riaz told AFP. District commissioner Mohammad Tayyab said eight people were killed, including three children. District police chief Irfan Saleem said more than 100 more suffered injuries. Major General Asif Ghafoor, a spokesman for the Pakistan Armed Forces, tweeted that army troops with aviation and medical support teams were dispatched.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 on the Richter scale and a depth of 40 km hit the Pakistan-India border region at around 4: 30 PM. There was no report of any loss of life or property due to the earthquake so far.

“The epicentre was near the India-Pakistan border. The closest big city to the epicentre is Rawalpindi (in Pakistan’s Punjab province),” said JL Gautam, head of operations at the National Center for Seismology (NCS) said.

“I don’t think that the quake has caused any damage in Delhi but there are several villages with poor constructions, which might get damaged. We can’t predict the aftershocks right now, “he added.

” European-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC): Earthquake of magnitude 6.1 at Richter scale strikes 173 km North West of Lahore, Pakistan, “ANI reported.

Pakistan Meteorological Department’s earthquake center, however, said the earthquake measured 5.8 on the Richter scale and its depth was at 10 kilometers.

The earthquake jolted Pakistan as tremors lasted for 8- 10 seconds but were felt strongly across the country, including in major cities of Islamabad, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Lahore.

Pakistan’s Meteorological Department said the epicenter of the quake was located near the mountainous city of Jehlum in the Punjab province. The tremors shook walls in Islamabad and left people standing in the streets outside.

There are reports of damage to roads and buildings from Mirpur and other areas in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Reuters reported that one person was killed and several others injured in Jhelum.