
Earthquake hits upper parts of Pakistan, no losses reported
Tremors were felt in several cities in the northern parts of Punjab province and the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as well as the federal capital of Islamabad.
The quake hit at 2:03am on Saturday, with its epicenter located in Farkhār, Afghanistan at a depth of 122.6 kilometers, the USGS reported.
'We were asleep when a sudden jolt woke us up around 2 in the morning,' Kanwal Khan, a resident of Islamabad, told Arab News on Saturday.
Tremors were felt in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Muzaffarabad, Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi and several other Pakistani cities.
'Reports of earthquake in different cities of Pakistan, including Lahore and capital Islamabad,' Dr. Ahmad Rehan Khan, a Pakistan X user, wrote in a post. 'May God protect everyone.'
Several other people posted about the quake on X.
There was no immediate confirmation of any losses of life or property by authorities in the wake of the earthquake.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Al Arabiya
6 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Dormant Russia volcano erupts for first time in 450 years
A volcano erupted for the first time in 450 years in Russia's eastern Kamchatka region, the nation's emergency authority said Sunday, days after one of the strongest earthquakes on record hit the region. Pictures released by Russian state media show a towering plume of ash spewing from the Krasheninnikov volcano, which last erupted in 1550, according to the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program. The plume is estimated to have reached an altitude of 6,000 meters (19,700 feet), Kamchatka's Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a post on Telegram. 'The plume is spreading eastward from the volcano toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path, and no ashfall has been recorded in inhabited localities,' the ministry said. The volcano has been assigned an 'orange' aviation hazard code, the ministry added, meaning flights in the area may be disrupted. It came after Klyuchevskoy, another volcano in the region -- the highest active in Europe and Asia -- erupted on Wednesday. Eruptions of Klyuchevskoy are quite common, with at least 18 occurring since 2000, according to the Global Volcanism Program. Both recent eruptions followed one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded, which struck on Wednesday, sparking tsunami warnings and evacuations of millions of people from coastal areas from Japan to Hawaii to Ecuador. The worst damage was seen in Russia, where a tsunami crashed through the port of Severo-Kurilsk and submerged a fishing plant, officials said. The magnitude 8.8 quake struck off Petropavlovsk on Russia's Kamchatka peninsula and was the strongest since 2011 when a magnitude 9.1 quake off Japan caused a tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people.


Arab News
7 hours ago
- Arab News
Dormant Russia volcano erupts for first time in 450 years
MOSCOW: A volcano erupted for the first time in 450 years in Russia's eastern Kamchatka region, the nation's emergency authority said Sunday, days after one of the strongest earthquakes on record hit the region. Pictures released by Russian state media show a towering plume of ash spewing from the Krasheninnikov volcano, which last erupted in 1550, according to the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program. The plume is estimated to have reached an altitude of 6,000 meters (19,700 feet), Kamchatka's Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a post on Telegram. 'The plume is spreading eastward from the volcano toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path, and no ashfall has been recorded in inhabited localities,' the ministry said. The volcano has been assigned an 'orange' aviation hazard code, the ministry added, meaning flights in the area may be disrupted. It came after Klyuchevskoy, another volcano in the region — the highest active in Europe and Asia — erupted on Wednesday. Eruptions of Klyuchevskoy are quite common, with at least 18 occurring since 2000, according to the Global Volcanism Program. Both recent eruptions followed one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded, which struck on Wednesday, sparking tsunami warnings and evacuations of millions of people from coastal areas from Japan to Hawaii to Ecuador. The worst damage was seen in Russia, where a tsunami crashed through the port of Severo-Kurilsk and submerged a fishing plant, officials said. The magnitude 8.8 quake struck off Petropavlovsk on Russia's Kamchatka peninsula and was the strongest since 2011 when a magnitude 9.1 quake off Japan caused a tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people.


Arab News
8 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistan warns of more rains next week as monsoon death toll reaches nearly 300
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Meteorological Department warned on Sunday that currently 'weak' monsoon currents penetrating the country are likely to intensify from next week, triggering more rains and flash floods, as the death toll from rain-related incidents since late June climbed to 299. As per the Met Department's latest press release, weak monsoon currents are continuously penetrating the country's upper and central parts. It said these currents are likely to 'intensify' from Aug. 4 and that a westerly wave is likely to strengthen from Aug. 5. 'Heavy rains may generate flash floods in local nullahs/streams of Chitral, Dir, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra, Kohistan, Abbottabad, Buner, Charsadda, Nowshera, Swabi, Mardan, Murree, Galliyat, Islamabad/Rawalpindi, northeast Punjab and Kashmir from Aug. 5-7,' the PMD said. Monsoon rains have killed 299 people in Pakistan since June 26, with Punjab reporting the highest number of deaths with 162 casualties, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with 69, Sindh with 28, Balochistan with 20, Gilgit-Baltistan with 10, Islamabad with 8 and Azad Kashmir with 2. As per the National Disaster Management Authority's (NDMA) latest situation report, 715 people have been injured in total in rain-related incidents since June 26, with 239 of them children, 272 males and 204 females. The PMD warned that heavy rains may trigger urban floods in the low-lying areas of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore and Sialkot cities of Punjab from Aug. 5-7. 'Landslides/mudslides may cause roads' closure in the vulnerable hilly areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Murree, Galliyat and Kashmir during the forecast period,' it added. The PMD warned the public, travelers and tourists against traveling unnecessarily to vulnerable areas to avoid any untoward situation, and to keep updated with the latest weather conditions. Pakistan, which ranks among the world's most climate-vulnerable nations, has witnessed increasingly erratic weather events in recent years. In May, at least 32 people were killed in severe storms, while a third of the country was submerged by devastating floods in 2022 that killed more than 1,700 people, affected over 30 million and caused an estimated $35 billion in damages.