A 5.7-MAGNITUDE earthquake struck Afghanistan today, the US Geological Survey said, with strong tremors felt in the capital Kabul and Islamabad in neighbouring Pakistan.
The quake struck at 9.25am GMT at a depth of 65 kilometres, 25 km northwest of Jalalabad, the main town in eastern Afghanistan close to the Pakistani border, the USGS said. Pakistan’s meteorological office put the magnitude at 6.2.
There were no immediate reports of any damage.
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the juncture of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
In June 2012, two quakes in the area triggered landslides that killed at least 75 villagers.
The tremors came a week after a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake centred in Iran affected thousands of people in remote southeastern Pakistan and killed 41 people.
Pakistan was hit by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake on October 8, 2005, that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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