<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">At least 12 people were killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan by a strong earthquake felt across thousands of kilometres, but the region appeared Wednesday to have dodged the mass casualties usually associated with a tremor of such scale.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The United States Geological Survey said the magnitude 6.5 quake was centred near Jurm in northeastern Afghanistan, but the depth of 187 kilometres (116 miles) mitigated extensive damage.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The quake, which struck around 09:30 pm (1700 GMT) Kabul time on Tuesday and lasted more than 30 seconds, was felt from central Asia to New Delhi in India -- more than 2,000 km away.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It was a powerful earthquake and we feared maximum damage due to the intensity -- that's why we issued an alert," Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for Pakistan's emergency Rescue 1122 service in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"But fortunately our fears proved wrong. Residents panicked due to the magnitude of the earthquake, but the damage was minimal."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The region is frequently hit by quakes -- especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- 'Stayed awake' all night -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Jurm district, near the epicentre, a resident of one village reported no casualties despite the location.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We are about 2,000 to 3,000 people in our village and we all spent the night outside under the sky," said Inamullah, reached by phone.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We were all scared and stayed awake the entire night."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Panicked residents of cities and towns in Afghanistan and Pakistan also fled their homes to seek safety away from buildings -- with many too scared to return.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We stayed the night in our courtyard... it was cold outside, but we preferred to stay out rather than go back," 24-year-old student Neda Raihan told AFP in Kabul.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Khudadad Heights, a vast multi-storey residential block in the Pakistan capital, was evacuated after huge cracks appeared in the building.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over 55,000 people were killed by an earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria last month, heightening fears across the region.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The children started shouting that there is an earthquake. We all ran out. The horrors of the earthquake in Turkey and neighbouring countries had a strong effect on our nerves," said Ikhlaq Kazmi, a retired professor in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Officials in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, north of the Pakistan capital, said nine people had been killed in the quake, including two women and two children.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- High alert -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Afghanistan, officials reported three dead and 44 injured -- but phone and internet links to remote parts of the country had been severed and communication patchy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said health centres across the country had been put on high alert.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the Afghan capital Kabul, shopkeeper Noor Mohammad Hanifi set up tents in the street for his family to spend the night in.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Nobody dares to go inside their homes," Hanifi told AFP as his family, cloaked in blankets, took shelter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Afghanistan, many families were out of their homes celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year, when the quake struck.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I heard people screaming and yelling as they came out in the streets," said Masieh, who was outside with his family when the tremor hit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's possible that there could be another tremor so I'm still waiting outside."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Those indoors also quickly left their houses and apartments.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"They just fled without wearing shoes, just carrying their children in their hands," an AFP correspondent said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered the National Disaster Management Authority to be ready to deal with any emergency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last June more than 1,000 people were killed and tens of thousands made homeless after a 5.9-magnitude quake -- the deadliest in Afghanistan in nearly a quarter of a century -- struck the impoverished province of Paktika.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Afghanistan is in the grips of a humanitarian disaster made worse by the Taliban takeover of the country in August 2021.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">International development funding on which the South Asian country relied dried up after the takeover and assets held abroad were frozen. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>