The strong earthquake of 5.8 magnitude on Tuesday has brought disasters to different parts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) which claimed at least 22 lives and more than 300 left injured so far.

The quake hit some urban and rural parts of the AJK including Muzaffarabad, Kotli and many other scattered places.

The death toll rises to 22 in the affected areas primarily Mirpur and Jatlan of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir which was previously stood at 2 after the emergence of initial reports.

According to the latest reports, at least 22 people lost their lives and more than 300 people received injuries as 11 deaths are reported in Jatlan and 8 in Mirpur.

A Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Raja Rizwan from Mirpur told BOL News that the number of deaths is increased to 19 and more than 300 wounded people were shifted to hospitals.

The officer further said that the local administration and police forces need heavy machinery to proceed with the relief activities.

In another incident, a building in AJK’s Mirpur collapsed and various citizens received severe wounds which are being shifted to the nearby hospital, deputy commissioner told media.

However, it is unclear regarding the genre of building and the accurate figure of casualties in the incident.

A strong earthquake jolted the federal capital Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and its suburban parts on Tuesday evening, however, no major incident of death and damage was reported from other parts of the country except AJK as yet.

Tremors felt in various cities for 10 seconds including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Pasrur, Jhelum, Kot Momin, Murree, Kala Bagh, Sangla Hills and many others where citizens came out of their houses and offices.

Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (DG-ISPR) taking to the social networking website Twitter, informed of the orders issued by General Qamar Javed Bajwa with regards to the relief efforts.

COAS directs immediate rescue operation in aid of civil administration for victims of earthquake in AJK. Army troops with aviation and medical support teams dispatched.

— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) September 24, 2019