KHUZDAR, Pakistan / AsiaWire.IO / – An earthquake of magnitude 5.6 hit Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Saturday, October 17, with its epicentre near the city of Khuzdar. The German Research Centre for Geosciences reported the tremor and said it occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres, or 6 miles. Quakes at such shallow depths tend to cause stronger ground shaking than deeper ones of a similar magnitude. Early reports did not include information on casualties or damage.
The GFZ, based in Potsdam, Germany, provides rapid estimates of significant earthquakes around the world. Its initial readings on magnitude and depth can be updated as additional seismic data is processed. Saturday’s figures served as the main source for early reports on the event. Khuzdar is located in central Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by area. Authorities had not released detailed information on the quake’s effects in initial reports.
Balochistan sits in a seismically active zone on the southern edge of the Eurasian plate. The Indian plate converges obliquely with the Eurasian plate along Pakistan’s western margin. Major structures such as the Chaman Fault, a left-lateral strike-slip fault, and the Sulaiman fold and thrust belt cross the region. Strain along these systems has generated some of the deadliest earthquakes in Pakistan’s history.
Fault lines make Balochistan prone to strong quakes
The 1935 Quetta earthquake measured 7.7 and killed an estimated 30,000 to 60,000 people. Ten years later, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake off the Makran coast generated a tsunami that killed about 4,000 people. The 2008 Ziarat earthquake, measuring 6.4, left 215 people dead. In 2013, a magnitude 7.7 quake centred in Awaran District, next to Khuzdar, killed 825 people and injured around 700.
A deadly magnitude 5.9 earthquake also struck Harnai District on October 7, 2021. The quake hit in the early hours and killed at least 42 people, many of them women and children. Around 300 people were injured, and about 10,000 mud homes were destroyed. Satellite mapping identified more than 100 landslides after the quake, which blocked roads and delayed rescue teams.
Recent tremors keep seismic risk in focus
Pakistan has recorded several notable tremors in 2026. A magnitude 5.4 quake struck Gilgit-Baltistan near Sost in August, while a magnitude 6.2 earthquake centred in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush shook Pakistan in April. Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sit on the Eurasian plate, while Sindh and Punjab lie on the Indian plate. That position exposes the country to earthquakes from its northern mountains to the southwestern coast.
Moderate quakes in the 5 to 6 magnitude range can damage weaker structures close to the epicentre. Shallow events in the region are often followed by aftershocks, as seen after the Harnai quake in 2021, which recorded aftershocks of magnitude 4.6 and 4.5. Initial reports on Saturday’s earthquake did not mention any aftershocks. More details are expected as local authorities assess conditions around Khuzdar.