Kabul (AFP) - At least 12 people were killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan after a strong earthquake was felt thousands of kilometers away, but the region seemed to have avoided a major human catastrophe Wednesday that could result from an earthquake of this magnitude.

The epicenter of the 6.5-magnitude earthquake was located in southeastern Afghanistan near the border town of Jaram with Pakistan and Tajikistan, with a depth of more than 187 kilometers, according to the US Geological Survey.

The quake struck around 9:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Tuesday, Kabul time, and lasted for more than 30 seconds. It was felt by people from Central Asia to New Delhi, India, more than 2,000 km away.

"It was a strong earthquake and we feared huge damage because of its intensity, that's why we issued a warning," Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for rescue services in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told AFP.

"But fortunately our fears turned out to be wrong. The people panicked because of the strength of the earthquake, but the damage was minimal," he added.

The region is frequently subject to earthquakes, especially in the mountainous Hindu Kush region located near the intersection of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

We spent the night in the open air

In the Jarm area, which is close to the epicenter of the earthquake, no human injuries were recorded, according to one of the residents.

"There are 2,000 to 3,000 people living in our village, and we spent the whole night in the open," Inamullah said in a telephone interview.

"We were all scared and stayed up all night," he added.

Residents of cities and towns in Afghanistan and Pakistan fled their homes in panic to places far from buildings, and did not return hours later.

"We spent the night in the yard... It was cold outside, but we preferred to stay there rather than return," student Nida Rehan, 24, said in a telephone interview with AFP from Kabul.

Khudadad Heights, a sprawling multi-storey residential complex in the Pakistani capital, was evacuated after cracks appeared in its walls.

More than 55,000 people were killed in an earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria last month, sparking concerns across the region.

One of the parents, Ekhlaq Kazmi, a retired professor in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, said, "The children started screaming that there was an earthquake. We all ran outside. The horrors of the earthquake in Turkey and neighboring countries affected our nerves a lot."

Officials in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, north of the Pakistani capital, said nine people were killed in the earthquake, including two women and two children.

- Alert -

Officials in Afghanistan reported that three people were killed and 44 wounded, but telephone and Internet lines with remote parts of the country were severed and communications intermittent.

Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter that health centers in the country had been put on alert.

In the Afghan capital, Kabul, Nur Mohammad Hanifi erected a tent in the street for his family to live in.

"No one dares to enter homes," Hanifi told AFP, wrapping his family in blankets.

In Afghanistan, many families were celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year, outside their homes when the earthquake struck.

"I heard people screaming as they went out into the street," said Masih, who was outside with his family when the earthquake struck.

And the people who were inside their homes and apartments quickly left them.

"They fled without putting on their shoes, just carrying their children," an AFP correspondent said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asked the National Disaster Management Authority to prepare to deal with any emergency.

In June of last year, more than 1,000 people were killed and tens of thousands were displaced when a 5.9-magnitude earthquake, the deadliest in terms of the number of victims in Afghanistan in nearly a quarter of a century, hit the impoverished Paktika province.

Afghanistan is under the weight of a humanitarian catastrophe, which worsened with the Taliban's seizure of power in August 2021.

The sums of international financing allocated for development, on which the South Asian country depends, disappeared after the hardline movement took control, while assets abroad were frozen.