Muzaffarabad: At least 24 people were killed and 450 injured in an earthquake that hit Pakistani Kashmir, local officials said on Wednesday, adding that rescue work was in full swing and an earlier panic was subsiding.

Tuesday's powerful 5.8 magnitude earthquake levelled homes and shops and split open roads in an area between the towns of Jhelum and Mirpur to the north, which is in Pakistan's portion of the disputed Hymalayan territory of Kashmir.

Women mourn beside the dead body of their family member Sabir Hussain, who died after their house collapsed after a powerful earthquake in Sahang Kikri, northeast Pakistan Credit:AP

"The situation is slowly returning to normal, the level of panic is now less among the people, although an aftershock was felt at night," said Sardar Gulfaraz Khan, a police deputy inspector general.

Most of the damage happened in villages where old houses collapsed, Khan said.