<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>At least 12 people have been killed and more than 200 injured after a powerful earthquake shook large parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The 6.5-magnitude quake damaged buildings, triggered landslides and sent people running into the streets.</div><div><br></div><div>It struck on Tuesday evening, centred in a mountainous region in Afghanistan's north-east near the border with Pakistan.</div><div><br></div><div>Tremors from the remote Jurm valley were felt as far as India.</div><div><br></div><div>"It was a terrifying tremor. I had never felt such a tremor before in my life," Kabul resident Khatera told AFP news agency after rushing out of her fifth-storey apartment.</div><div><br></div><div>Nine of the confirmed deaths were reported in the valley region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.</div><div><br></div><div>Three others were killed in Afghanistan, the country's health ministry spokesman said. A child was among those killed in the Laghman province near the country's border with Pakistan, AFP reported.</div><div><br></div><div>Many families had been out of their homes celebrating the Persian New Year or Norwuz when the quake hit.</div><div><br></div><div>But the damage found so far had been less than feared, emergency workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa told AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>However the remoteness and rugged terrain of affected areas is likely to slow relief and rescue work.</div><div><br></div><div>Many in the affected regions braved near-freezing temperatures to sleep outside after the quake - fearing aftershocks. Some had dashed out of their homes barefoot when they felt the shaking.</div><div><br></div><div>In the capital of Islamabad, a vast multi-storey residential block was evacuated after huge cracks appeared in the building.</div><div><br></div><div>Phone lines have been affected, and in Pakistan the highway in the worst-hit Swat area has been blocked by landslides.</div><div><br></div><div>Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has asked disaster agencies to take emergency measures to help people.</div><div><br></div><div>Tremors were felt over a 1,000-km area that spans India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.</div><div><br></div><div>Earthquakes are more likely in this region because it lies at the juncture of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. According to BBC reports&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>