Magnitude 6.1 quake rattles Afghanistan and Pakistan
People stand outside their shops after a severe earthquake is felt in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018. A strong magnitude-6.1 earthquake rattled Pakistan and Afghanistan, including the capital cities of both countries, on Wednesday, killing a young girl and injuring five others and damaging mud-brick homes in southwestern Pakistan, officials said. (Photo by ANJUM NAVEED / AP)
ISLAMABAD — A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake rattled Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday, including the capital cities of both countries, killing a young Pakistani girl and injuring five others, officials said.
At least three people were injured in Afghanistan, they said.
The US Geological Survey reported the quake’s center was in northeast Afghanistan near the Pakistan border, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) south of Jarm in the Hindu Kush region. It had a depth of 191.2 kilometers (119 miles).
TV footage showed people in Islamabad fleeing offices and schools in panic.
Rana Hamid Ali, an employee at a private company, said the quake was so strong he started running toward the stairs instead of using the office elevator to get out of the building. Another resident, Azeem Chaudhry, said his home’s walls swayed when the quake struck.
At least one girl was killed and five others injured when roofs collapsed on mud-brick homes in the village of Lasbela in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, said local government official Izat Nazir Baluch. He said authorities were still trying to assess the damage in the province.
The quake was felt in the Afghan capital Kabul, where an official said at least three people were injured in northeastern Badakhshan province near the border with Pakistan.
Gul Mohammad Bedar, deputy governor in Badakhshan province, said he had not yet received details on how the three were injured. He said the temblor caused cracks in the walls of a number of houses there.
Bedar said officials were trying to collect more details from the remote villages in Jarm. Authorities faced problems getting details in the remote district where the Taliban have a strong presence.
The earthquake also was felt in the Indian capital New Delhi and the Indian Kashmir region. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to buildings there.
A magnitude-7.6 quake in 2005 killed thousands of people in Pakistan and Kashmir. /atm
