Six killed as earthquake jolted the KPK, Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan ,Muzaffargarh and rest of Country

MULTAN, April 10th:At least Six people were killed and many others injured in Pakistan as earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck South Asia on Sunday.At least two died when tremors caused a landslide on the Karakar mountain range connecting Swat and Buner.

Two others passed away in Shabqadar Shahbaz Khan Korona of district Charsadda when a boundary wall collapsed.
The earthquake hit parts of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa near the Afghan border, shaking buildings in the Afghan and Pakistan capitals, witnesses and the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. 7.1 or 6.6 magnitude earthquake was recorded at Multan and adjacent areas  The Meteorological Department 's spokesman said people of Multan, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalpur and adjacent areas felt severe earthquake at 1532 pm. A  earthquake jolted parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab on Sunday afternoon, the Pakistan Meteorological Department said, causing fear and panic among residents who vacated buildings for the duration of the almost ‘three-minute-long quake.’

Three people – one each in Diamer, Bonir and Swat – died from landslides, said a spokesman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Twenty seven injured people were admitted to Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital for treatment, most of whom were discharged after first aid, said Dr Khalid Masood, the hospital's spokesman. He said all injured were in stable conditions.

The quake was felt for a few seconds in Kabul and in Islamabad, where some residents evacuated apartment blocks after tremors shook ceiling fans and furniture.

The quake was also felt in New Delhi, where buildings in the centre swayed and the metro train system was halted temporarily as a precaution.

People rushed out of their homes in the northern region of Indian-administered Kashmir.

“People are on the streets now and we don't know whether to go back inside,” said an AFP reporter in Srinagar.

In Pakistan, tremors were felt in Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Swat, Chitral, Mardan, Kohat, Hangu, Shangla, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, DawnNews reported.

USGS pinpoints Ashkasham, Afghanistan, as quake epicentre.

The 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck at around 3:30pm at a depth of 236 kilometres with its epicentre in Afghanistan's Hindu Kush region, the Pakistan Meteorological Department said.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS), however, measured the magnitude of the quake to be 6.6 and said the epicentre was Ashkasham in Afghanistan.

Pakistan is located in the Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone, which is roughly 200 km north of the Himalaya Front and is defined by an exposed ophiolite chain along its southern margin.

This region has the highest rates of seismicity and largest earthquakes in the Himalaya region, caused mainly by movement on thrust faults.

Along the western margin of the Tibetan Plateau, in the vicinity of south-eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, the South Asian plate translates obliquely relative to the Eurasia plate, resulting in a complex fold-and-thrust belt known as the Sulaiman Range.

Faulting in this region includes strike-slip, reverse-slip and oblique-slip motion and often results in shallow, destructive earthquakes.

The PMD recorded about 851 seismic disturbances in 2015.He said "small and frequent tremors are far less dangerous as they help dissipate seismic energy which, if stored up for too long, manifests itself in the shape of massive quakes that can cause widespread damage." Terrified people came out of their homes and shopping centers and malls.People witnessed shaking hoardings and poles.Two dilapidated homes caved in in walled city.However inmates remained save because they came out on the streets  and that residents vacated buildings and headed for open spaces in fear. A Lady Saeeda Fatima said that she felt that her "Charpoy" was dislocated by anyone .She told she felt jerks for 13 seconds.People on Twitter and face book have been reacting to the earthquake.