An earthquake of magnitude 3.5 on the Richter scale hit Nawabshah on Tuesday morning.

According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the epicentre of the earthquake was located 72 kilometres East of Nawabshah at a depth of 10 kilometres.

The early morning tremors forced people to come out of their houses in a panic looking for safer places while reciting the verses of the Holy Quran.

In 2016, an earthquake of 4.9 magnitudes was felt in Nawabshah, Hyderabad, Matiari and adjoining areas.

PMD said that the epicentre of the earthquake was located in 60 kilometres northeast of Nawabshah at a depth of 20 kilometres.

It should be noted that Pakistan is situated at the north-western side of the Indian subcontinent and overlaps both with the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates.

The country’s Sindh and Punjab provinces lie on the northwestern corner of the Indian plate while Balochistan and most of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa lie within the Eurasian plate which mainly comprises the Iranian plateau, some parts of the Middle East, and Central Asia.