Twelve dead as powerful earthquake hits Pakistan and Afghanistan

More than 100 taken to hospital as homes and workplaces are evacuated after 6.5-magnitude quake

People injured by the earthquake are brought to a hospital in Saidu Sharif, in Pakistan's Swat valley, on Tuesday. AP

A powerful 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and forcing many to evacuate homes and workplaces.

More than 100 people were taken to hospitals in the Swat valley region of Pakistan's north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Many were in a state of shock, Pakistan emergency services spokesman Bilal Faizi told AP.

“These terrified people collapsed, and some of them collapsed because of the shock of the earthquake,” he said.

Mr Faizi said most were later discharged from hospitals.

Nine people were killed when roofs collapsed in parts of north-western Pakistan, officials said.

Dozens of others were injured in the quake, which had its epicentre near Jurm, Afghanistan, and was also felt in bordering Tajikistan.

It struck at a depth of 187km, according to the US Geological Survey agency, triggering landslides in mountainous areas and disrupting traffic.

Residents gather at the bottom of their apartment buildings after the 6.5-magnitude earthquake in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 21. AFP

People gather outside a mall in Islamabad after the earthquake, which was felt in Pakistan, Afghanistan and parts of India. AFP

People gather outside a mall in Islamabad after the earthquake, which was felt in Pakistan, Afghanistan and parts of India. AFP

Visitors to the north-west Indian city of Amritsar gather outside their hotel after the earthquake. AFP

Visitors to the north-west Indian city of Amritsar gather outside their hotel after the earthquake. AFP

Residents gather outside their homes in Amritsar. AFP

Residents keep clear of buildings after the earthquake was felt in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir. EPA

Visitors to the north-west Indian city of Amritsar gather outside their hotel after the earthquake. AFP

“It was a terrifying tremor,” Khatera, 50, told AFP after rushing out of her fifth-storey apartment in Kabul. “I had never felt such a tremor before in my life.”

The region is frequently hit by earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

Two people, including a child, were killed in the eastern province of Laghman, Afghanistan's Ministry of Natural Disaster Management told AFP.

Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said health centres across the country had been put on high alert.

Noor Hanifi, a shopkeeper in Kabul, set up tents in a street for his family to spend the night in.

“Nobody dares to go inside their homes,” Mr Hanifi told AFP as his family took shelter. “When I heard the doors and windows shaking, I realised it was an earthquake.”

The powerful tremors sent many people fleeing from their homes and offices in Pakistan's capital of Islamabad, some reciting verses from the Quran.

Media reports suggested cracks had appeared in some apartment buildings in the city.

In Afghanistan, Sharafat Zaman Amar, the Taliban spokesman for the Public Health Ministry, said at least two people died and around 20 others were injured in the earthquake in Afghanistan.

“Unfortunately, there could be more casualties as the quake was so powerful in most parts of the country,” Mr Zaman Amar said.

The scene was repeated in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan.

“The quake was so strong and terrifying, we thought houses are collapsing on us,” said Kabul resident Shafiullah Azimi. “People were all shouting and were shocked.”

Children stand at the entrance of their house after a tremor was felt in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Tuesday. Reuters

Aziz Ahmad, 45, another Kabul resident, said: “In my life, this was first time I have experienced such a powerful quake. Everyone was terrified.”

He and his neighbours stayed outside their homes for hours, afraid of aftershocks.

“We couldn't dare to get back home,” Mr Ahmad said.

Doctor Rakhshinda Tauseed was at her hospital in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore when the earthquake hit.

“I quickly asked patients to go move to a safer place,” she said.

Khurram Shahzad, a resident in Pakistan's garrison city of Rawalpindi, said he was having dinner with his family at a restaurant when the walls started swaying.

“I quickly thought that it is a big one and we left the restaurant and came out,” he told AP. He said he saw hundreds of people standing on the streets.

The situation was similar in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the border with Afghanistan, where people were seen standing outside their homes and offices.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he had asked disaster management officials to remain vigilant.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the main spokesman for the Taliban government in Afghanistan, tweeted that the Ministry of Public Health had ordered all health centres to be on standby.

Last year, in south-eastern Afghanistan, a 6.1-magnitude quake struck a rugged, mountainous region, flattening stone and mud-brick homes.

The Taliban put the total death toll from the quake at 1,150, with hundreds more injured, while the UN offered a lower estimate of 770.