PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A 5.9 magnitude earthquake shook portions of Pakistan and the neighboring country of Afghanistan on Saturday, causing alarmed residents throughout Pakistan to rush outside their homes in a panic, according to officials. No damage or casualties were reported in the immediate aftermath.
Pakistan’s Meteorological Department identified the epicenter as being located in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region. The U.S. Geological Survey placed the earthquake’s strength slightly higher, at magnitude 6.1.
The shaking was felt in the capital city of Islamabad, as well as in Punjab province to the east and the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which shares a border with Afghanistan. Residents in Pakistan-administered Kashmir also reported feeling the tremors.
Emergency services in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa confirmed that local district administrations had been placed on high alert following the quake.
Anwar Shahzad, a spokesperson for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, stated that early assessments turned up no reports of deaths, injuries, or structural damage.
Pakistan sits within an active seismic zone and regularly experiences earthquakes. The country suffered one of its deadliest disasters in 2005 when a magnitude 7.6 earthquake killed tens of thousands of people in Pakistan and Kashmir — the disputed Himalayan territory that is divided between Pakistan and India, with both nations claiming it as their own.
As of Saturday, no Afghan officials had issued a statement about the earthquake. Afghanistan has also endured a series of devastating earthquakes in recent years, with several events claiming thousands of lives.
