The Hindu : Front Page : Quake hits Afghanistan, parts of north India

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Wednesday, Apr 04, 2007
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Quake hits Afghanistan, parts of north India

Islamabad/Srinagar: A strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of northern India, including Jammu and Kashmir, on Tuesday triggering panic in the region, where a devastating temblor in October 2005 claimed nearly 80,000 lives.

No casualties were reported in the quake which struck the Hindukush region in Afghanistan and was nearly 200 km underground, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which said that its magnitude was 6.2 on the Richter Scale.

(In 2002, a 7.6 magnitude quake in the Hindukush destroyed several villages and left more than 1,000 people dead.)

Hundreds of people ran out of their houses as the quake, which hit near the town of Faizabad in Afghanistan after 8 a.m. local time, shook the buildings.

Heavy rain

Days of heavy rain in Kabul caused the Kabul river to overflow its banks for the first time in about a decade. Hundreds of mud brick homes have been destroyed or damaged in the city due to floods.

In Pakistan, the quake was felt in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and North West Frontier Province. Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), where maximum casualties were reported in the 2005 temblor, was also jolted by the tremor.

Epicentre in

Hindukush mountains

The Met office in New Delhi said the tremor shook parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh at 9:05 a.m. ``The earthquake had its epicentre in the Hindukush mountains in Afghanistan,'' a Met official said. Slight tremors were also felt in parts of the New Delhi.

In Jammu and Kashmir, panic gripped the residents of Uri and Tangdhar reviving the memories of the October 8, 2005 quake. However, the officials said there was no report of loss of life or damage to property from anywhere in the valley so far. — Agencies

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