NAWABSHAH  - A series of low-intensity earthquakes hit Nawabshah and its adjoining areas on Friday, killing at least two persons and injuring over 50 others, officials said.
According to the US Geological Survey, the maximum intensity of the tremors was measured 5.0 at the Richter scale and the epicentre was located 27 kilometres north-east from Nawabshah.
The tremor triggered a series of roof and wall collapses in different areas, sending the frightened people streaming into the streets away from their houses.
Rescue officials said a man and a child were killed in two separate incidents of roof collapse, adding that over 50 people, including women and children, were injured. They were shifted to Civil Hospital Nawabshah where emergency was declared. Around 100 houses in Nawabshah were damaged.
Education institutions were closed in the district where local administration was carrying out relief and rescue operations.
Work was underway to assess the extent of the damage caused by the quakes, which were also felt in several nearby small towns including Sakrand, Daur, Daulatpur and Bandhi.
Asif Arain, a Nawabshah resident, said: "The shaking woke us and we ran out of home reciting verses from the Holy Quran. Then we felt another jolt that was even more terrifying. I felt sick." Taj Colony neighbourhood in Nawabshah was the worst affected where roofs of many of the houses had crumbled with electricity supplies to the area disrupted.
The quakes all struck at a relatively shallow depth of around 15 kilometres (9.5 miles). Pakistan straddles part of the boundary where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, making the country susceptible to earthquakes. A devastating 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit Pakistan in October 2005, killing more than 73,000 people and leaving around 3.5 million homeless.
Last September, a 7.7-magnitude hit Awaran district in southwestern Balochistan province, killing at least 376 people and leaving 100,000 others homeless.