A 6.1 magnitude earthquake has struck northeast Afghanistan, shaking large parts of the region and killing a child and injuring several people in neighbouring Pakistan, officials said.

The quake, which rattled buildings in the Afghan capital and was also felt in parts of India, struck 270km northeast of Kabul in the Hindu Kush mountains, at a depth of 180km, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said on Wednesday.

A baby girl was killed and 10 people were injured when roofs of mud-walled houses collapsed in the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan, a district deputy chief, Shabbir Megnal, said.

Fleeing offices

TV footage showed people in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad fleeing offices and schools in panic. Rana Hamid Ali, an employee at a private company, said the quake was so strong he started running towards the stairs instead of using the office elevator to get out of the building. Another resident, Azeem Chaudhry, said his home’s walls swayed when the quake struck.

There were no immediate reports of any serious damage or casualties in Afghanistan. Large parts of the region are seismically active because a tectonic plate, known as the Indian plate, is pushing north into the Eurasian plate.

The earthquake was also felt in the Indian capital New Delhi and the Indian Kashmir region. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to buildings there.

A 7.6-magnitude quake in northern Pakistan in October 2005 killed about 75,000 people.

– (Reuters, PA)