5.8-magnitude earthquake rattles Islamabad, parts of KP and GB

• Tremors felt in Islamabad, Swat and Hunza.
• USGS reports magnitude of 5.9, with 35km depth.
• Says quake located 50km NNW of Barishal.

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake on Monday rattled Islamabad with the seismic monitor centre reporting that the tremors originated at the depth of 10 kilometres.

The tremors were also felt in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat and Gilgit Baltistan’s Hunza.

Meanwhile, as per the data from the United States Bracklylogical Survey, the quake measured 5.9 on the Richter Scale and was located at 50 kilometres North-Northwest of Barishal and at a depth of 35km.

The earthquake comes weeks after 5.2-magnitude tremors struck parts of Karachi causing panic among citizens on December 16, 2025.

The National Seismic Monitoring Centre of the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said the earthquake’s epicentre was in Balochistan’s Sonmiani, with a depth of 12 kilometres and was centred about 87 kilometres from Karachi.

Pakistan straddles the boundary where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, making the country susceptible to earthquakes.

The region can be challenging to navigate during crisis situations — in 2015, a 7.5-magnitude quake in Pakistan and Afghanistan killed almost 400 people across rugged terrain that impeded relief efforts.

The country was also hit by a 7.6-magnitude quake in 2005 that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Azad Kashmir.

Balochistan saw a quake in 2021 that killed at least 20 people and left more than 10 injured, with landslides hampering initial rescue efforts in the remote mountainous district of Harnai.