MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An earthquake measuring 5.6 hit Afghanistan's Hindu Kush region on Saturday, but caused no casualties, a provincial official said.
The quake, centred 275 km (170 miles) northeast of Kabul,was also felt in parts of northern Pakistan and India,including the respective capitals Islamabad and New Delh.
"I have spoken to almost all the district chiefs of theprovince, but no one has reported any casualties," said MunshiAbdul Majid, the governor of the northern province ofBadakhshan where the epicentre was located.
Earlier Majid had said he expected casualties in the remoteareas where mud-walled homes are vulnerable to quakes.
"All my colleagues ran out of the office," a Reutersreporter in northeastern Kunar province said. People also ranout of offices in Islamabad and New Delhi, where buildingsswayed, witnesses said.
Thousands of people were killed by earthquakes inBadakhshan province in the late 1990s.
On March 25, 2002, at least 1,500 people were killed when aseries of quakes of between magnitude 5 and 6 struck northernBaghlan province in the Hindu Kush mountains, destroying thedistrict capital of Nahrin.
(Reporting by Tahir Qadiry, Jonathon Burch and HamidShalizi; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani)
