Magnitude 5.1 earthquake rocks part of Pakistan, Afghanistan
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake jolted areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan on Friday, triggering panic as people ran out of residential and commercial buildings in fear.
The intermittent earthquakes were felt in several Pakistani cities including those near the country’s border with India, the National Disaster Management Agency said.
There were no initial reports of deaths or destruction, but the situation was still being assessed in the remote, mountainous regions near the Afghan border, the Pakistani agency added.
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The jolts scared many people out of their homes and shops in the capital Islamabad.
“It is scary. I felt the earth shaking and ran out of my office,” Ajmal Khan, who works for an exchange company said.
Earthquakes were frequent occurrences in the region and could cause huge damage.
The epicentre of Friday’s quake is the Afghanistan-Tajikistan, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
In October 2015, a magnitude-7.5 earthquake killed more than 400 people and left several thousand others homeless in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
In 2005, more than 70,000 people died and millions were left homeless in northern Pakistan and parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the worst-ever tragedy to hit the country.
