Islamabad: A powerful earthquake rocked southwest Pakistan today, sending panicked people rushing from their homes in fear of their lives and being felt as far away as India and the Gulf.
The 7.2 magnitude quake struck at 1:23 am (0153 IST), around 50 kilometres west of the town of Dalbandin, close to the border with Afghanistan, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
Television footage showed terrified people fleeing their houses in cold conditions, reciting verses from the Koran. Rescue services said that they were on alert after the quake in the sparsely populated area but had received no emergency calls and there were no initial reports of casualties. Strong tremors were felt as far away as the Indian capital New Delhi, around 1,300 kilometres away, as well as several other cities across northwestern India, though there were no reports of any damage.
Data on the USGS website suggested the quake had also been felt across in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The USGS said the quake had a magnitude of 7.2 and hit at a depth of 84 kilometres, revising down an earlier report of 7.4-magnitude. The initial bulletin from USGS said the earthquake hit just 10 kilometres below the surface. At that depth, quakes can cause major destruction and loss of life.
Pakistan's Meteorological Department gave a magnitude of 7.3 and located the epicentre 55 kilometres northwest of Kharan, a town in the thinly populated southwestern Baluchistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan. "The earthquake occurred at around 1:23 am and it was felt in Balochistan, Sindh and southern Punjab provinces," chief meteorologist Mohammad Riaz said.
"There could be aftershocks during the next week - there are active fault lines in Baluchistan." The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no chance of the inland quake causing a tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Northern Pakistan was hit by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake on October 8, 2005 that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The country is still battling back from the devastating effects of floods last year.