Earthquake Strikes Pakistan's Balochistan Province, Leaving One Dead

A strong earthquake shook the Khuzdar district in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Saturday morning. According to Dawn, the shaking began around 10:07 local time and caused widespread panic, sending people fleeing from their houses into open outdoor spaces. Officials confirmed that one person died after a boulder detached from a mountain and struck the victim in the Naal area, while several mud homes were damaged.^6,8

Reports from seismic agencies differed regarding the exact strength and depth of the tremor. The Pakistan Meteorological Department's National Seismic Monitoring Centre calculated the earthquake at magnitude 5.9 with a depth of 25 kilometres, placing the epicentre 48 kilometres northwest of Khuzdar. In contrast, GDACS and The Hindu recorded the event as a magnitude 5.7 tremor at a shallower depth of 10 kilometres.^4,6,7,8

The event comes among several other major seismic tremors recorded globally over the same period, including a revised magnitude 6.9 earthquake near Ozernovskiy in Russia and an earlier tremor recorded in the United States, according to monitoring services.^1,2,3