Powerful quake causes panic in South Asia

ISLAMABAD, Tuesday (AFP) - An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale struck Pakistan and Afghanistan early Tuesday, triggering panic among survivors of October's tremor that killed more than 70,000 people in the region.

The extent of any casualties or major damage was still unclear.

The epicentre of the quake was in the Hindu Kush mountains of northeastern Afghanistan and occurred at 2.48am (2148 GMT Monday), seismological official Nasir Mehmood from the Pakistan Meteorological Department told AFP.

"The magnitude is 6.7 according to our final computation," Mehmood said, revising upwards an earlier estimate of 6.6.

"It was a fierce intensity earthquake about 375 kilometres (235 miles) north of Islamabad in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan."

The US Geological Survey also put the quake at 6.7 on the Richter scale and said it originated some 230 kilometers (143 miles) under the surface of Afghanistan's northeastern mountain chain.

France's earth sciences observatory registered the quake at magnitude 6.9.There were no immediate reports of casualties in Pakistan but residents in cities across the north of the country rushed out into the streets in panic, local media said.

Witnesses said it felt like the strongest tremor since the 7.6-magnitude earthquake on October 8 that killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan alone.

That quake also left around 3.5 million people homeless, mainly in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and parts of the North West Frontier Province.

In Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, many survivors of the October 8 quake rushed from their tents and from houses still left standing by the original disaster.

"It was very strong. People came out of their tents and started screaming and reciting verses from the Koran," resident Sarfraz Ahmad said. "The people living in buildings spared by the big quake were the most terrified," he added.

"Now everyone is getting back into their shelters. They are reluctant, but they have no choice because the cold is unbearable."

The tremor was also felt in Indian-administered Kashmir, where around 1,300 people were killed in the October 8 disaster.

"It was the biggest aftershock felt in our area after the October 8 earthquake," said Irshad Ahmed, from the region's northern Uri sector.

"People rushed out of their sheds and tents despite harsh winter conditions outside," he told AFP.

"I could hear screams from all around me," he said, adding there were no immediate reports of any casualties.

In Indian Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar, people started reciting verses from the Koran and children screamed as the ground shook, witnesses said.

Correspondents said the quake could also be felt in the Afghan city of Jalalabad and the capital Kabul, as well as the Pakistani city of Peshawar near the Afghan border but that it was too early to tell if there was any major damage.

The Hindu Kush is a sparsely populated area of small, remote villages that has been jolted by several quakes in the past years, being near the collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates where seismic activity is high.

An earthquake measuring 6.1 in Afghanistan's Hindu Kush region in March 2002 killed around 1,000 people and destroyed several villages, according to the US Geological Survey.