The Pakistan Meteorological Department, however, said the magnitude of the natural disaster was 8.1.
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Hazrat Hussain Mashreqiwal, spokesman for the provincial police chief, said several houses were destroyed in Jalalabad city, with destruction also reported in a few rural districts. The quake spread panic among people and they rushed out of their homes, however; no loss of life or property has been reported so far. A 7.6-magnitude quake killed around 75,000 people when it hit northern Pakistan on October 8, 2005. Omar Abdullah, the former chief minister of India’s northern Jammu & Kashmir state, wrote on Twitter that electricity was cut off in the main city of Srinagar. Office buildings swayed and workers who had just returned from lunch ran out of buildings and gathered in the street or in parking lots.
In Afghanistan, 24 people were reported dead, including the 12 schoolgirls, seven people in the eastern province of Nangarhar, two in Nuristan Province in the northeast and three in eastern Kunar Province, officials said.
One aftershock hit shortly afterwards, with the USGS putting its magnitude at 4.8.
Power supplies and most mobile networks were knocked out, and there was structural damage to roads and buildings.
The Pakistan air force said it was offering full support to the National Disaster Management Authority.
In Pakistan, 38 deaths were reported by early evening, most in northern and northwestern regions bordering Afghanistan, officials said. Dozens of houses and school buildings collapsed in southern and central parts of the Kashmir Valley, officials and residents said. Emergency has been declared in all government hospitals and food and necessary items were dispatched to the affected areas.
“Many are still under rubble”, Sadiq told AFP. “I’ve never experienced anything like it”, Farooqi said.
The quake affected telecom services in various parts of the region, and the Delhi metro has been halted.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed all federal, civil, military and provincial agencies to declare an immediate alert and mobilise all resources to ensure the security of citizens of Pakistan.
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Tremors from the 7.5-magnitude quake were felt across South Asia, with the rupture shaking buildings in Kabul, Islamabad and New Delhi.
