Earthquake rattles Islamabad, other cities

A powerful earthquake rattled Pakistan's capital and other cities across the country on Sunday, causing panic among people but with no immediate reports of casualties or major damages.

Pakistani official Arif Ullah told The Associated Press that the magnitude-7.1 quake was centered near Afghanistan's border with Tajikistan.

Germany's GFZ Research Center for Geosciences set the quake's magnitude at 6.5.

In Islamabad, terrified residents fled their homes and offices as buildings swayed. Television footage showed people praying in public.

Tremors were felt as far away as the Indian capital, New Delhi.

Ahmad Kamal, a spokesman at National Disaster Management Authority, said they have not received any information about damages from the earthquake-hit areas.

However, he said that post-quake landslides were a potential threat, and said he had asked regional authorities to prepare for all possible contingencies.

A Pakistani student, Kiran Saeed, said she was studying at home when her chair shook and initially she thought someone had deliberately pushed it.

"When I turned back, no one was there and then the walls started shaking. We came out of the home and everyone was reciting verses from Quran," she told the AP from Rawalpindi, a garrison city near Islamabad.

Sahiba Bibi, an Islamabad resident, said she almost fell to the ground when the tremors began. "I am still very terrified," she said.

Sunday's earthquake was the strongest one since October when magnitude-7.5 earthquake damaged thousands of homes in the northwest.

In addition to Pakistan and India, the quake was felt in Afghanistan, said the US Geological Survey, which placed it at a depth of 210 kilometers. It occurred at 2:58 pm, 282 km northeast of the capital Kabul.

There were no immediate reports of injuries and the USGS said there was a low likelihood of casualties or damage.

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

"People are on the streets now and we don't know whether to go back inside," said an AFP reporter in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar.

AP - AFP