"At least 19 people have been killed and more than 300 wounded," said Sardar Gulfaraz, deputy inspector general of police in Mirpur -- a city in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir near the epicentre of the quake -- in televised comments.

In Pakistan several cities including Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Skardu, Kohat, Charsadda, Kasur, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Sialkot, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Chitral, Malakand, Multan, Shangla, Okara, Nowshera, Attock and Jhang felt the tremor.