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People evacuate from houses after a strong earthquake in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, Oct. 26, 2015. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)
An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter Scale jolted northeast Afghanistan Friday night, leaving at least 37 people injured, with tremors felt in the Pakistani capital Islamabad and Indian capital New Delhi.
The quake, with a depth of 203.52 km, struck northeast Afghanistan's Ashkasham, close to its border areas with Pakistan and Tajikistan at 19:14:47 GMT on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its website.
Though there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties in Afghanistan and Tajikistan, at least 37 people were injured as a result of the quake in northwestern Pakistan.
Pakistan's Urdu TV channel Geo said that the city of Peshawar in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was the worst-hit area from where all the 37 casualties were reported.
The hospital authorities said that most people sustained injuries in the head and limbs after being hit by the bricks of collapsing houses.
The provincial authorities have imposed a state of emergency in all the three major hospitals in Peshawar and also in neighboring Nowshera district to facilitate the injured.
The quake also caused land sliding at Karakoram Highway in north Gilgit Baltistan area, blocking it from various places.
Ghulam Rasool, a Pakistani official, said that the earthquake's duration was 59 seconds in parts of the country, adding that several mild to moderate aftershocks have hit the country in the next few hours.
He said that Pakistan lies on the earthquake fault line due to which the local office is closely monitoring the seismic activity and has its bases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which enable them to give a more accurate report.
The disaster management authority of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said that they are contacting their sub-offices in various districts to check possible damages caused by the quake.
The National Disaster Management Authority's spokesperson said that they are checking with the disaster management authorities of all the provinces to assess losses and damages.
A 7.5-magnitude earthquake with a depth of 210 km hit the Hindu Kush mountain range in northern Afghanistan late October, with strong tremors also felt in Pakistan and India.
The death toll from that quake reached 350, with thousands of people wounded.
