Talking to a private news channel, he said that the earthquake occurred in the wee hours of Wednesday at around 1:23 am and it was felt in Balochistan, Sindh and southern Punjab provinces.

He said the epicenter of the quake was found to be in Balochistan area of Kharan and the magnitude of the earthquake was 7.4 on Richter Scale.

Various parts of the country which felt severe jolts included Karachi, Bahawalpur, Thatta, Sukkar, Shikarpur, Badin, Larkana, Mirpur Khas, Khairpur, Noshehro Feroz, Nawabshah, Hyderabad, Quetta, Naseerabad, Kharan, Lahore, Sargodha, and Dera Ghazi Khan, he added.

He said there are no initial reports of damage or casualties from any part of the country so far. There are reports regarding tsunami in Indian Ocean as well.

He said in October 2005 a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck the country and killed more than 73,000 people, mainly in Kashmir and parts of the country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

According to a private news channel report, a heart patient woman died on experiencing the quake tremors in Quetta. Another woman was killed when a quake-shaken wall collapsed on her in Garhi Khairo.