Overview
- The Pakistan Meteorological Department reported a magnitude 5.3 earthquake late Tuesday with a 234 km depth in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush, felt across Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
- Authorities reported no immediate casualties or major damage and said district administrations were assessing impacts.
- The tremor capped a short sequence that included a shallow M4.7 in Pakistan on Oct 20 at 10 km depth, plus M4.6 and M3.8 events in Pakistan and a M4.3 in Afghanistan on Oct 21, according to NCS posts.
- Seismology agencies shared real-time parameters and coordinates on X as they monitored for aftershocks and further activity.
- Experts highlighted that deep-focus earthquakes are often less destructive at the surface, whereas the shallow shocks in this region pose higher local risk in a tectonic collision zone of the Indian and Eurasian plates.