Shallow quake hits southwest Pakistan: USGS

ISLAMABAD: A shallow 5.7-magnitude earthquake hit southwest Pakistan on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake struck at 5:53 am (0053 GMT) around 330 kilometres (200 miles) southwest of Quetta, the capital of the province of Baluchistan, at a depth of eight kilometres.

A powerful 7.2-magnitude quake that hit southwest Pakistan in January sent people rushing from their homes in panic but did not cause significant casualties.

Pakistan was hit by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake on October 8, 2005 that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Azad Kashmir and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011