5.7-magnitude quake strikes Afghanistan, Pakistan

A 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan today, the US Geological Survey said, with strong tremors felt in the capital Kabul and in Islamabad in neighbouring Pakistan.

The quake struck at 1455 IST at a depth of 65 kilometres. Its epicentre was 25 kilometres northwest of the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad near the Pakistani border, the USGS said.

There were no immediate reports of any damage from the country.

Afghanistan's interior ministry and the national disaster agency said authorities were still gathering information.

In Kama district outside Jalalabad, people ran from their mudbrick homes in panic when the tremor was felt, a witness said, describing it as "very powerful". Two walls in one village collapsed, he said.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range which lies near the juncture of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

In June 2012 two quakes in the area triggered landslides that killed at least 75 villagers.

Today's tremors came a week after a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake centred in Iran affected thousands of people in remote southeastern Pakistan and killed 41 people.