Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake Strikes Near Khuzdar in Balochistan, Tremors Felt Across Balochistan and Sindh, No Damage Reported Initially

Khuzdar: The ground shook without warning on Saturday morning, and in Khuzdar people did what people everywhere do — they came out of their homes and waited. The Khuzdar earthquake was recorded at magnitude 5.7 by the US Geological Survey. It struck at 10:06am local time, with its epicentre 48 kilometres west-northwest of Khuzdar town and a depth of just 10 kilometres, shallow enough for the shaking to be felt clearly at the surface.

Three agencies, three slightly different readings

Germany’s GFZ research centre put the quake at magnitude 5.6, also at 10 kilometres deep, while India’s National Centre for Seismology measured 5.8 at a depth of 15 kilometres. Small differences like these are routine in the first hours, when each agency is working from its own station network. On the essentials all three agree: the quake was shallow, it was inland, and it was centred near Khuzdar. The USGS issued a yellow alert for the event, meaning localised damage cannot be ruled out entirely.

Felt from Jhal Magsi to Sukkur

Tremors were reported in Jhal Magsi, Jaffarabad and Nasirabad districts of Balochistan, and across the provincial border in Sindh’s Sukkur, Qambar Shahdadkot and Dadu districts. In the first reports there was no word of casualties or damage. Pakistan sits where three major tectonic plates meet, which is why tremors are a recurring fact of life here; a magnitude 5.6 quake struck Balochistan as recently as February.