A 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck Pakistan-administered Kashmir and areas in Punjab province on Tuesday, leaving at least 30 persons, including women and children, dead and around 400 others injured, many of them seriously, officials said.
the shallow quake hit 22.3 kilometres north of Jhelum, along the boundary separating the agricultural heartland of Punjab and AJK, according to the US Geological Survey.
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lt Gen Mohammad Afzal said the situation was under control and rescue operation was under way.
However, major parts of the country and particularly those in the quake-hit Azad Kashmir are likely to face a week-long spell of widespread rains.
The chief Meteorologist Dr Azmat Hayat Khan warned that the rain spell might affect rescue operations in the quake-hit areas, particularly in Azad Kashmir, where structure was damaged at a large scale.
Possibility of landslides in districts of Malakand, Hazara, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir cannot be ruled out during the period, the Met department says.
In its latest weather warning on Tuesday, heavy falls may generate flash flooding in Hazara, Malakand, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Dera Ghazi Khan divisions, Islamabad and Kashmir, while urban flooding in Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Lahore divisions from Saturday to Monday.
Heavy falls may also generate urban flooding in Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin and Karachi on Saturday and Sunday.
