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Earthquake Jolts Central Asia
KABUL, Feb 25 (News Agencies) - An earthquake measuring up to 6.7 on the Richter scale rocked central Asia Sunday, panicking residents from Kabul to New Delhi and prompting many to flee their homes.
Seismologists said the earthquake's epicenter was near northern Afghanistan's border with Tajikistan.
No casualties have been reported from the quake, which was felt in India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.
The director general of the Meteorological Department in Pakistan, Qamaruz Zaman, said the epicenter of the quake was 300 kilometers (187 miles) north of Peshawar in Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountain range.
The quake was felt at 7:22 am (02.22 GMT) and measured 6.0 on the Richter scale, Zaman said, adding that it was followed by a series of aftershocks.
Indian Seismologists said the quake measured 6.7 on the Richter scale.
"It is a deep rooted earthquake," Zaman said, adding that its depth was 200 kilometers [125 miles] below ground. "Such earthquakes cause less damage on the surface."
In Pakistan the quake lasted about one minute and severe jolts were felt in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Chitral, Gilgit, and several other northern towns in Pakistan.
Northeast Afghanistan is notoriously quake prone. On February 4, 1998 a quake measuring 6.4 hit the area, killing 4,500 people. Another quake on May 30th the same year measured 7.1 and killed 5,000.
Forces opposed to the country's ruling Taliban regime control much of the area affected by the quake.
Suhail Asem, a spokesman for the Afghan opposition, said preliminary reports from several district centers in Badakhshan and Takhar did not speak of casualties or damages.
However, Asem said this did not mean damage and casualties could be ruled out. "There are some remote districts which takes people several days on horseback to get the news out."
A Taliban official, speaking from the southern city of Kandahar, said the shocks were not felt in the ruling militia's southern stronghold.
S.K. Srivastava, additional director general of the Indian Meteorological Department, said preliminary data showed the earthquake measured 6.7.
"The quake sent tremors all over northern India," he said.
In Pakistan's capital Islamabad one panicked resident said: "The quake woke us up as our beds started shaking." Another added: "People came out from their houses in a panic."
In Dushanbe, a Tajik emergency service official said that tremors as strong as 4.0 on the Richter struck Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe and the Uzbek capital Tashkent, but no casualties or damage were reported.
In January, a devastating quake hit India's Gujarat state leaving nearly 30,000 people dead. It also struck Pakistan's south killing 14 people and injuring more than 100.
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