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Earthquake of magnitude 5.6 hits Afghanistan, tremors felt in Delhi
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said the quake was at a depth of 121 km (75 miles).
An earthquake of magnitude 5.6 hit Afghanistan on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
The quake was at a depth of 121 km (75 miles), the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said, adding that the epicentre was 164 km east of Baghlan, a city with a population of about 108,000.
EMSC had first reported the quake at a magnitude of 6.4, and later revised it to 5.6.
Tremors were also felt in Delhi-NCR, claimed social media users on platform X.
“Anyone who felt the earthquake in Delhi?” a user @kapoor_aamaya posted on X.
Another user posted,"did ya’ll feel the earthquake in delhi rn???"
Meanwhile, an earthquake of magnitude 2.4 struck the Kishtwar district of Jammu & Kashmir on Wednesday early morning, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) reported.
As per the post shared by NCS on X, the earthquake occurred at around 5:14 am Indian Standard Time (IST), at Latitude 33.18 N and Longitude 75.89 E. The depth of the earthquake has been reported to be 5 km.
Wednesday's earthquake was among the series of tremors that hit Asian regions in recent days.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Afghanistan remains highly vulnerable to natural disasters, including seasonal flooding, landslides and earthquakes.
These frequent earthquakes in Afghanistan cause damage to vulnerable communities, which are already grappling with decades of conflict and under-development and have left them with little resilience to cope with multiple simultaneous shocks, UNOCHA noted.
Afghanistan has a history of powerful earthquakes, and the Hindu Kush Mountain range is a geologically active area where quakes occur every year, according to the Red Cross.
Afghanistan sits on numerous fault lines between the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates, with a fault line also running directly through Herat, ANI said in a report.
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5.6 magnitude earthquake hits Philippines
The earthquake in Afghanistan occurred hours after tremors measuring 5.6 magnitude struck off the southern Philippines, AFP quoted the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
The quake off the coast of the island of Mindanao had a depth of 30 kilometres (18.6 miles), the USGS added.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology placed the epicentre about 43 kilometres southwest of the town of Maitum, located in a mountainous and sparsely populated area.
Local authorities told AFP that early indications were that the quake had caused no significant damage.
"It was strong but didn't last long. We have checked but it was negative (for damage or casualties)," said Gilbert Rolifor, a fire department official in Maitum.
(With agency inputs)
