ISLAMABAD: A 5.6-magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Pakistan on Wednesday evening, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said with no loss of lives or massive damage to property reported. 

The tremors were felt in the federal capital, Islamabad, as well as the northwestern cities of Swat, Peshawar and Chitral in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the PMD said. 

“An earthquake recorded on 25-02-2026 at 16:12 PST with a 5.6-magnitude and a depth of 114km,” the PMD said in a statement. “Its epicenter was the Hindu Kush Region Afghanistan.”

Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.

In August last year, a shallow 6-magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan flattened mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people. Weeks later, a 6.3-magnitude quake in northern Afghanistan killed at least 27.

Powerful tremors struck western Herat in Afghanistan, near the Iranian border, in 2023, and the Nangarhar province in 2022, killing hundreds and destroying thousands of homes.