A 5.2 magnitude earthquake was felt in Malakand, Dir, Swat and Chitral on Sunday, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said. The quake originated from the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan and occurred at a depth of about 80 kilometres, the PMD said. This is the second quake felt in the northern areas within the past 48 hours.
Yesterday's quake was felt in Buner, Malakand, Swat and adjoining areas. The PMD recorded its magnitude as 5.0, with its epicentre near the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border at a focal depth of 80 km.
Over a dozen small quakes have been felt the Hindu Kush region since 2016 began.
"Our country is located on an earthquake-prone belt, but this does not mean that things are dangerous for Pakistan all the time," Director General Met Dr Ghulam Rasul, the country's top meteorologist, said earlier in January.
Small and frequent tremors are far less dangerous, he said, as they help dissipate seismic energy which, if stored up for too long, manifests itself in the shape of massive quakes that can cause widespread damage.
Pakistan is located in the Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone, which is roughly 200 km north of the Himalaya Front and is defined by an exposed ophiolite chain along its southern margin.
This region has the highest rates of seismicity and largest earthquakes in the Himalaya region, caused mainly by movement on thrust faults. Along the western margin of the Tibetan Plateau, in the vicinity of south-eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, the South Asian plate translates obliquely relative to the Eurasia plate, resulting in a complex fold-and-thrust belt known as the Sulaiman Range.
Faulting in this region includes strike-slip, reverse-slip and oblique-slip motion and often results in shallow, destructive earthquakes. The PMD recorded about 851 seismic disturbances in 2015.
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