Strong quake hits Afghan Hindu Kush

ISLAMABAD - A strong earthquake struck the sparsely populated Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan today, close to a region in northern Pakistan and Kashmir devastated by a quake two months ago.

The latest quake, with a magnitude of 6.7, struck at 3.17am local time (10.47am NZDT), according to the United States Geological Survey.

People in nearby Pakistani Kashmir, where some 73,000 people were killed by a major earthquake on October 8, fled their homes when the quake struck, residents said.

The Indian capital New Delhi was also shaken by the quake, and people in Peshawar, a Pakistani city near the Afghan border, were woken by the powerful tremor.

"It was very strong. It was very scaring. Many people living in old houses fled from their homes," said Peshawar resident Mohammad Aalim.

People living in apartment blocks in the Pakistani capital Islamabad also fled their homes, residents said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Around 500,000 people were left homeless in Pakistani Kashmir and the neighbouring North West Frontier Province of Pakistan by the October 8 quake, which devastated scores of remote villages, leaving many people with little or no food, shelter and medical help as the Himalayan winter closed in.

Many mountain villages were cut off by landslides and could be reached only by helicopter.

The quake was also felt in Srinagar, the main city in Indian Kashmir, where people fled their homes in panic. Some 1,300 people were killed in Indian Kashmir by the October quake.

- REUTERS