Strong 5.8 earthquake jolts Pakistan USGS

A 5.8 magnitude quake shook Pakistan's capital Islamabad, several cities in Punjab province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Tuesday, killing one and injuring several, according to a government official on local television, TRT World reports.

"There are reports of damages, that is all I know for now. I can confirm that there was one woman who died and that there are several people who got injuries," Mirpur District Deputy Commissioner Raja Qaisar told television channel Geo TV.

Mirpur lies in Pakistan-administered Kashmir near the Jehlum river. Pakistan-administered Kashmir is also home to Muzaffarabad where over 70,000 people died in the 2005 quake.

Witnesses Sajjad Jarral and Qazi Tahir said at least 50 people were injured by the quake that caused a building to collapse in Mirpur and inflicted heavy damage at least one road.

The shallow quake hit 22.3 kilometres north of the city of Jhelum along the boundary separating the agricultural heartland of Punjab province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, according to the US Geological Survey.

The tremors shook walls in Islamabad and forced people to rush outside.

Tremors were felt as far as New Delhi, while the Press Trust of India reported that people rushed out of their homes and offices in panic in several places, including in Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana.

Pakistan straddles part of the boundary where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, making the country susceptible to earthquakes.

Over 340 people were killed in Awaran, a neglected area in Balochistan, on September 24, 2013 in a 7.8 magnitude temblor.

In October 2015, a 7.5-magnitude quake in Pakistan and Afghanistan killed almost 400 people, flattening buildings in rugged terrain that impeded relief efforts.

The country was also hit by a 7.6-magnitude quake on October 8, 2005, that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Pakistan-administered Kashmir's Muzaffarabad area.

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