Earthquake tremors felt in KP, Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan

Tremors were felt in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan, UrduPoint reported, without giving the magnitude of the earthquake, its epicentre or when the shaking began.

The report said only that tremors had been felt in the three regions. It carried no account of damage to houses, roads, bridges or other infrastructure, and no reports of injury or death.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department, the National Disaster Management Authority and the provincial disaster management authorities of the three regions were not quoted. The details that normally follow a felt tremor in Pakistan (magnitude, depth, epicentre and the districts affected) were not available from the report.

The Met Office's seismological centre usually issues a preliminary reading soon after a tremor is felt in the country, and district administrations in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa report damage through the local administration. Residents in the northern districts were checking on relatives and neighbours in other areas after the shaking.

The mountain districts of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Malakand and Hazara divisions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sit along the collision zone of the Indian and Eurasian plates, one of the most seismically active stretches on earth, and mild to moderate tremors are recorded there every year. Low-magnitude tremors are common and rarely cause structural damage, but construction in the valley settlements of the north is often vulnerable to stronger shaking.

Sindh is not usually associated with strong seismic activity, though tremors originating across the border in the Kutch region have been felt in the province in the past.

This report will be updated when the Met Office or a disaster authority publishes the magnitude, depth and epicentre of the event, and if damage is confirmed in any of the affected districts.