Magnitude 6.2 earthquake rocks Afghanistan, Pakistan

KABUL – A magnitude 6.2 earthquake rocked Afghanistan and various parts of Pakistan on Wednesday, sending people racing out of buildings in the two capitals and injuring at least 13 people and damaging dozens of homes in both countries.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor was centred just across the border, in a remote part of Tajikistan.

Omer Mohammadi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s disaster management authority, said two small children were injured when their home collapsed and one of them was listed in critical condition.

Abdul Razak Zinda, a senior official at a disaster management agency, said 45 houses were damaged in three districts in the northeastern Takhar province of Afghanistan. He said three people were injured.

In Islamabad and Kabul, people fled their offices and homes and recited verses from the Qur’an in the streets.

The two countries are prone to earthquakes.

Earlier on Wednesday, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake rattled parts of eastern Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan. That quake caused a stampede at a school in the northwestern city of Bannu, injuring at least 10 students, according to Mohammad Aslam, a local police official.

Taamore Khan, a senior official at the provincial disaster management authority in the northwestern city of Peshawar, said the quake did not cause damages to buildings, but they were still waiting for the final report from remote areas near Afghanistan.