Afghanistan and Pakistan earthquake death toll rises to 21

Ten died in Afghanistan and 11 in Pakistan after the Tuesday quake

Residents clear debris from a damaged a house at Sooch village in Jurm district of Badakhshan Province. AFP

The death toll from a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that struck much of Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan earlier this week rose to 21 on Thursday, after eight more deaths were reported in remote areas, officials said.

Ten died in Afghanistan and 11 in Pakistan after the temblor rattled this South Asian region late on Tuesday. More than more than 130 people were reported injured when roofs of hundreds of homes collapsed.

The quake was also felt in India's capital New Delhi, where hundreds fled apartment blocks.

But most of the damage was reported in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan.

Shafiullah Rahimi, a Taliban spokesman for the Ministry of Natural Disaster Management, said the quake killed 10 there and injured 60. He said 800 houses were damaged across Afghanistan.

According to the US Geological Survey, the epicentre was 40 kilometre south-southeast of the district of Jurm in Afghanistan’s mountainous Hindukush region, bordering Pakistan and Tajikistan.

The quake struck at a depth of 188 kilometres.

The region is prone to violent seismic upheavals. A magnitude 7.6 quake in 2005 killed thousands of people in Pakistan and disputed Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan.

AP contributed to this report