Saturday, February 11, 2012

5.0 magnitude quake jolts parts of Pakistan

By: Our Staff Reporter | October 30, 2009, 11:25 am |

A 5.0 magnitude shallow earthquake jolted northern Pakistani cities Friday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, officials said. The tremors were felt in several northwestern Pakistani cities including Peshawar and the capital Islamabad, at 12:46 pm (0646 GMT), chief of Pakistan's meteorological department, Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, told AFP. The quake's epicentre was located near the northwestern town of Parachinar, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) west of Islamabad at a depth of 10 kilometres, he said. A tribal administration official in Parachinar said residents rushed out of their homes but there were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties. The US Geological Survey registered the quake at 5.1, and said it was centred 87 kilometres southeast of the Afghan capital Kabul.