Strong quake rocks Afghanistan, Pakistan

Thu Oct 22, 2009

A magnitude 6.2 quake has hit northeastern Afghanistan, shaking buildings in the capital Kabul, the US Geological Survey (USGS) says.

The quake struck the region at 12:21 a.m. local time on Friday (1951 GMT Thursday) at a depth of 196 km (122 miles) in the Hindu Kush area, near the border with Tajikistan and Pakistan, the USGS said.

The epicenter reported to be 77 km (48 miles) southeast of Feyzabad, the capital of the Afghan province of Badakhshan and 115 km (72 miles) northwest of Chitral in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province.

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake also jolted the upper parts of Pakistan early on Friday, a Press TV correspondent reported. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Northern Afghanistan and Pakistan are frequently hit by earthquakes, especially around the Hindu Kush range near the collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir in October 2005 killed 74,000 people and displaced about 3.5 million.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109363.html.