Earthquake jolts cities from Kabul to Lahore

Magnitude of quake recorded at 6.3 on Richter scale, with epi-center located beneath the Hindu Kush mountain range.

KABUL:

A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 hit Afghanistan's remote northeast late on Friday, meteorologists and witnesses said, rattling homes in the Afghan capital and large areas of neighbouring Pakistan.

The quake was felt across northern and central Pakistan, including the cities of Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore.

Centred in the Hindu Kush mountain range, the quake was measured at a depth of 110 miles. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. Witnesses reported some residents running into the streets in Islamabad in panic. The met office said the tremors were felt in Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Nowshera, Gilgit, Swat, Muzzafarabad, Peshawar, North Waziristan, Malakand Agency, Dir and Chitral.

The quake was measured about 38 miles (61 km) southeast of Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan province, in Afghanistan's mountainous northeast near the border with Tajikistan, accordingto the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Houses shook in Kabul when the quake was felt just before midnight (1930 GMT), setting off car alarms and sending some residents into the street, witnesses said.

Mountainous Afghanistan is an earthquake-prone country, with most concentrated in the northeast. The 2005 earthquake that hit Kashmir is one of the worst natural disasters in Pakistan's history with more than 79,000 reported dead in the incident.