Strong tremors were felt across North India on Sunday after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck northeast Afghanistan near the country’s borders with Pakistan and Tajikistan, killing two persons and injuring 4.
The earthquake, whose epicentre was the Hindukush mountain range in Afghanistan, struck at 3:58 pm, sending ripples across north India.
The impact was the strongest across a 200 km area, according to data from European Mediterranean Seismological Centre.
In Pakistan, two persons have died and four have been injured. Radio Pakistan reported that strong tremors were felt across Peshawar, Chitral, Swat, Gilgit, Faisalabad and Lahore.
Residents left their homes in Kabul and Islamabad when the quake struck and buildings swayed for well over a minute in both capitals. Similar reports were received from across northern and central Pakistan.
In Kabul, Omar Mohammadi, a spokesman for the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, said officials were collecting information but no reports of casualties or damage had been received so far.
In the national capital, people ran out of their houses as the tremors continued for over a minute leading to a huge scare.
As a precautionary measure, metro services were temporarily halted in the national capital.
All trains were stopped at respective locations and restarted after 2-3 minutes with a precautionary speed of less than 40 kmph till every train reached the next station/section.
“Earthquake!!!! It was really scary! I could see plants and furniture shaking at 6th floor office of Delhi secretariat. Wish all is well,” tweeted Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia
Delhi Fire Department and police officials said control rooms have not received any calls reporting major damage or collapse of any buildings.
