A powerful 5.9-magnitude earthquake rattled parts of Pakistan on Saturday morning, triggering panic in major urban centres including Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and numerous regions across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. The tremors – third in less than a week – were recorded at 11:47am, prompting residents to evacuate homes, offices, and buildings in fear of aftershocks.
According to the National Seismic Monitoring Centre (NSMC), the earthquake's epicentre was located near the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border, at a depth of 94 kilometres, with coordinates latitude 36.21 N and longitude 71.34 E.
Tremors were strongly felt across Lower Dir, Malakand, Bajaur, Nowshera, Dir Bala, Shabqadar, Mohmand, Chitral, Swat, Swabi, Gilgit and Mardan.
In Punjab, reports of shocks came in from Chiniot, Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Bhalwal and Mansehra, while Athmuqam in Neelum Valley, Azad Kashmir, also experienced tremors.
However, no casualties or significant structural damage were immediately reported.
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