Strong earthquake jolts Pakistan, residents flee homes

A powerful earthquake of 6.8-magnitude jolted parts of Pakistan on Tuesday night, the country's meteorologicial department said, sparking panic and forcing residents to flee homes.

The epicentre of the earthquake was Afghanistan's Hindu Kush region, while its depth was 180 kilometres, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

There were no immediate reports of damages or injuries. According to initial reports, tremors were felt in various cities, including Islamabad, Peshawar, Charsadda, Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Television footage showed panic-stricken citizens out on the streets, the Dawn newspaper reported.

At the time of the earthquake, a stampede was reported in the markets of Rawalpindi, The Express Tribune reported.

Meanwhile, an emergency was declared in the hospitals of federal capital on the instructions of Federal Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel, the report said.

According to the international seismological centre, apart from Pakistan, tremors were also felt in India, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China and Kyrgyzstan.

Earthquakes are common in Pakistan.

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Pakistan in June last year, which killed over 1,000 people.

The deadliest quake hit the country in 2005, which killed more than 74,000 people.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)