Earthquake tremors of 5.4 intensity jolted Islamabad, Rawalpindi and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on late Sunday night. According to the National Seismic Monitoring Centre (NSMC), the epicenter of the earthquake was Afghanistan. The depth of the earthquake was 32 km and its magnitude on the Richter scale was 5.4. No loss of life has been reported after the earthquake.
It is to be mentioned here that the tremors relatively closer to the surface are likely to bear long-term adverse effects on the buildings. Last year in December, an earthquake of magnitude 4.1 jolted Karachi. The earthquake of this magnitude in Karachi shocked the seismic experts as they had never earlier recorded an earthquake of such an strength with epicenter within the provincial capital city. Director Seismology Division of Pakistan Meteorology Division (PMD), had said that earthquakes of magnitude just over 3.1 have hit Karachi in the past, with their epicenters being outside the provincial capital. While this quake had epicenter in DHA at 15 kilometers’ distance in north of Karachi.
