In total 13 people were killed—nine in Pakistan and four in Afghanistan— after earthquake of 6.6 magnitude hit the Hindu Kush Region in Afghanistan at late hours of March 21.
The strong tremors were felt across Indian states, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan, according to reports.
According to Reuters, at least 44 people were reported injured in Pakistan with hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were functioning under the state of emergency overnight after more than 100 people were taken to hospital in a state of shock.
Meanwhile, around 50 people were injured in Afghanistan; known to be the epicentre of the earthquake.
No loss of life or property has been reported in Indian states, but earthquake tremors felt for seconds due to the ‘depth of the fault’ which was ‘more than 150 km’, reported PTI, citing a senior seismologist.
“More than 70 aftershocks were felt due to this earthquake, from Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, and Gujarat,” according to National Centre for Seismology (NCS), India.
Talking to Hindustan Times, J L Gautam, head of office and Scientist at NCS, explained the reason behind tremors to last for longer times, said, “As we know that the Indo Australian plate is colliding with the Eurasian plate and this release happened in that region. The HKH region is very active seismologically. The reason why people in northwest India and Delhi felt is for relatively longer time is because of the depth. The depth of the fault is over 150 km so first primary waves were felt and then secondary waves. Aftershocks are likely now but they can’t be Forecast”.
