Moderate quake jolts southwest Pakistan

An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted Pakistan but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

A moderate earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, officials said.

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Tremors were felt at 12:22 IST in the town of Sibbi and the epicentre was about 600 kilometres southwest of Islamabad in Balochistan province, a seismological department official told the agency.

The province is Pakistan's biggest but is very sparsely populated and is mostly desert.

The temblor came just over 12 hours after a moderate aftershock hit parts of northwestern Pakistan and Indian-administered Kashmir that were devastated by the massive South Asian earthquake on October 8.

The US Geological Survey said the 5.5 magnitude aftershock struck at 2310 IST yesterday. Pakistan's seismological department said it measured 5.4.

More than 1,790 aftershocks have been recorded since last year's 7.6-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 75,000 people and displaced 3.