5.9-Magnitude Quake Hits Afghanistan

With an epicenter 224km below the Hindu Kush mountains, the quake was also felt in Pakistan.

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit northern Afghanistan on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, with tremors felt as far away as India-administered Kashmir.

The quake struck 224 kilometers deep beneath the Hindu Kush mountains, and close to the Wakhan Corridor, the narrow strip of far northeastern Afghanistan that lies between Tajikistan and Pakistan. It was felt strongly in Kabul, some 290km from the epicenter, where people rushed into the streets in alarm, and even further away in Srinagar, the main city of India-administered Kashmir.

In Pakistan the quake was felt in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, central Punjab, as well as capital Islamabad.

A 5.6-magnitude quake in eastern Afghanistan in 2013 killed 13 people and flattened scores of homes. Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.