Tremors of 5.3 magnitude earthquake with epicentre in Afghanistan's Badakhshan felt in Kashmir Valley

SRINAGAR: Tremors of an earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale with its epicentre in Badakhshan province in Afghanistan, were felt in Kashmir Valley on Saturday.

Disaster management officials said that an earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale occurred at 8.24 A.M. on Saturday with the epicentre in Badakhshan province of Afghanistan.

“The earthquake occurred 190 Kms inside the Earth’s crust. Its coordinates are Latitude 36.55 degrees North and Longitude 70.92 degrees East”, officials said.

Seismologically, Kashmir Valley is situated in an earthquake prone region.

Earthquakes have wreaked havoc in Kashmir in the past. A temblor measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit J&K on October 8, 2005 and over 80,000 people were killed in that quake.

The epicentre of the earthquake was in Muzaffarabad town of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) and the town was completely razed to rubble in that temblor.