A powerful earthquake jolted Islamabad and a wide swath of Pakistani cities on Friday evening, sending residents scrambling out of homes and offices in a panic.
What Happened
The powerful earthquake, registering between 6.1 and 6.3 on the Richter scale, sent tremors across multiple cities including Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Gilgit, and Swat, driving people to rush out of their homes and buildings.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department’s National Seismic Monitoring Centre (NSMC) recorded the earthquake at 9:13 PM Pakistan Standard Time. The quake struck with its epicentre in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region at latitude 36.48°N and longitude 70.84°E — approximately 75 km from Garam Chashma in Chitral. It originated at a depth of 190 kilometres beneath the surface
Areas Affected
Tremors were reported in multiple districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, affecting areas such as Kohat, Bajaur, Swabi, Balakot, Khyber, Shabgadar, Lahore, Sialkot, Mardan, and Dera Ismail Khan. Other cities including Murree, Sargodha, Attock, and Faisalabad also felt the shaking.
Other affected cities included Skardu, Diamir, Shangla, Mansehra, Taxila, Hassan Abdal, Kohistan, and Dasu. Pakistan Connect The affected countries included Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan
Casualties and Damage
As of the time of this report, no immediate official figures on casualties or structural damage have been confirmed. Authorities are continuing to assess the situation. Citizens are urged to stay outdoors away from buildings and to follow safety protocols.
Why Pakistan Is So Seismically Active
The National Seismic Monitoring Centre confirmed the epicentre lay in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush Region. This zone is highly seismically active. Tremors from this area routinely reach Pakistan and neighbouring countries.
Pakistan sits on three major tectonic plates — the Arabian, Euro-Asian, and Indian — which create five seismic zones across the country. The intersection of multiple fault lines means tectonic movements remain a frequent occurrence in the region.
In the past 10 years, 284 earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or above have struck within 300 km of Islamabad. This averages out to roughly one earthquake every
12 days.
Historical Context
This is one of the more significant quakes to strike the region in recent months. The country has long been vulnerable to natural disasters, from the 2005 northern earthquake that killed 73,000 people to the devastating 1935 earthquake in Quetta, which claimed around 30,000 lives.
