By Muhammad Luqman
A strong earthquake of 5.8 magnitude on Richter scale jolted Pakistan and Azad Kashmir on Tuesday afternoon.
Epicenter of the earthquake was 22.3 kilometres north of the northern Punjab’s Jhelum city along the boundary between Punjab province and Azad Jammu and Kashmir
“The quake was 10 kilometres deep and was felt in most of Punjab province, some parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The worst hit was Mirpur, Azad Kashmir,” Director General Pakistan Meteorological Department said.
Earthquake Updates
Date: 24/09/2019
Time : 11:01:53
Latitude : 32.99 N
Longitude: 73.73 E
Magnitude: 5.8
Depth (km) : 5 KM
Region: North of Jhelum, Punjab. pic.twitter.com/AzfIlE6cOM— Pak Met Department (@pmdgov) September 24, 2019
At least 26 persons , according to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) , were killed and hundreds more injured in the quake.
The earthquake also affected power generation in the South Asian country as all the turbines of Mangla dam power house were switched off, depriving the system of about 900 megawatt cheap hydel power, according to a spokesman of WAPDA.
“ Turbines were switched off to save the system from any damage as shake up of the Mangla lake by quake, had made the water muddy,” spokesman Abid Rana said.
According to Indian media, tremors were felt as far as the capital New Delhi and in the states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana.
In October 2015, a 7.5-magnitude quake in Pakistan and Afghanistan killed almost 400 people.
The country was also hit by a 7.6-magnitude quake on October 8, 2005, that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Azad Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtun Khawa.
(This is developing story)
