An earthquake measuring 7.2 magnitude on the Richter scale struck Tajikistan on Monday, shaking buildings as far away as in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and New Delhi, the U.S. Geological Survey and witnesses said. According to reports, one person was killed and 10 were injured.
The tremor hit at 7:50 GMT in the Central Asian country, some 109 kilometres (67 miles) west of the town of Murghob at a depth of 28 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.
The driver of a truck travelling along a road some 460 kilometres east of the capital Dushanbe died as the result of a landslide triggered by the quake, state television said.
The earthquake was located some 345 kilometres east of Dushanbe in mountainous terrain, according to the US Geological Survey.
The Tajik seismological service noted that the quake’s epicentre was just 22 kilometres from the high altitude Lake Sarez.
Sarez, formed following an earthquake in 1911 and containing some 17 cubic kilometres of water, is considered a major threat to the region if its dams break as a result of seismic activity.
Shakarbek, a 50-year-old resident of the region’s biggest city, Khorog, told AFP that the quake jolted residents but there was “no major panic and no visible damage.”
The quake was also felt in the capital of neighbouring Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty to the north, as well as northern parts of Afghanistan to the south, Pakistan and India.
“I felt the windows moving and that only happens when there’s an earthquake. The room was swinging,” said Sara Seerat, a lawyer in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, where workers voluntarily evacuated office buildings.
Indian television showed residents in Delhi and Srinagar rushing into the streets, although no damage was reported.
Powerful earthquake jolts Pakistan
Islamabad (PTI): Different parts of Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region were shaken by the earthquake but no loss to life or property was reported.
The tremors were also felt in Pakistani capital Islamabad as well as in provincial capital of Peshawar.
An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude and focal depth of 88 kilometers had hit different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said an official of Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
The officials said that they are in constant touch with the district administration for reports about damages.
No damages has so far been reported to the PDMA, he added. Tremors were also felt in Malakand, Swat, Mingora and other areas of the province.
In October, 272 people were killed in Pakistan, including 225 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake that shook the country.
