Peshawar, Feb 25 (.) A 5.6-magnitude earthquake jolted Pakistan on Wednesday, hitting parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab, with notable tremors being felt in Peshawar, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi, causing mass panic among the people.
According to the country’s seismological centre, the quake originated in the Hindukush region of Afghanistan and was recorded at a depth of 114 km, reports The News International.
Prominent tremors were felt in major cities in KP and Punjab such as Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Swabi and its outskirts, with shocks also being felt in Bajaur, Diamer city and other adjacent localities. However, there have been no immediate reports of casualties or any kind of significant property damage, save some minor cracks in areas of KP such as Swat and Chitral.
The latest tremors come just days after a quake of similar magnitude struck parts of KP and Punjab on February 20, when an earthquake of similar magnitude jolted both provinces, with tremors felt across several cities, including Peshawar and Islamabad. The epicentre was located in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region at a depth of 73km, according to officials.
Additionally, shocks were also felt in the Indian side of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, POK, Haryana, Ladakh, and Himachal Pradesh.
Pakistan’s vulnerability to earthquakes is attributed due to its position along the boundary of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, making it one of the most seismically active regions in the world.
Furthermore, Pakistan has very little implementation of regulations concerning earthquake mitigating mechanisms, typically having non-engineered structures, and mostly unplanned urban localities, instead of institutionalised systems, resulting in massive engineering inefficiency, and lacklustre foundations.
The country has witnessed several devastating earthquakes in recent decades, with the most prominent being the 2005 quake in POK, which killed over 73,000 people and left millions homeless.
Balochistan, similarly has also suffered in 2021, when a quake in Harnai killed at least 20 people and hampered rescue operations due to landslides.
Pakistan’s rugged terrain makes it one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world, with structural deficiencies in building codes, greatly complicating defensive measures and relief efforts, with experts at the seismological centre noting that operational preparedness is of the utmost essence.
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