Pakistan earthquake today – what is the current death toll and where was it on the Richter scale?

PAKISTAN was today rocked by a killer quake which saw roads split in half.

But was anyone hurt and what was the earthquake’s magnitude? Here’s the latest.

EPA

Pakistan was today rocked by a killer quake which saw roads split in half[/caption]

What is the current death toll?

Nineteen people have been killed by the killer quake which struck eastern Pakistan.

In addition to the astounding death toll, more than 300 people have been injured.

The quake’s epicentre was close to the city of Mirpur, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

After the earthquake hit, tremors were felt as far away as the capitals of Pakistan and India, Islamabad and Delhi.

Children are among the dead, reports say.

EPA

Nineteen people have been killed by the killer quake[/caption]

Where was it on the Richter scale?

The deadly earthquake was of a 5.8 magnitude on the Richter scale.

“The quake was 10km (six miles) deep… The worst hit was Mirpur,” Pakistan’s chief meteorologist, Muhammad Riaz, told the AFP news agency.

Pakistan’s military said “aviation and medical support” teams had been dispatched to the area.

EPA

The deadly earthquake was of a 5.8 magnitude on the Richter scale[/caption]

What causes earthquakes?

Earthquakes are caused by the movement of tectonic plates.

Some 80 per cent occur around the rim of the Pacific Ocean.

The plates – giant rock slabs that make up the Earth’s upper layer – are always slowly moving.

They often collide and slide against each other, according to National Geographic.

This impact can be unnoticeable on the surface but can cause immense stress between the plates.

When this stress is released, it causes massive vibrations, called seismic waves, often hundreds of miles through the rock to the surface.

There are fears that there is a “big one” on the way after a flurry of volcanic activity in the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire”.

A study from California says that the cluster of tremors around the planet’s so-called Ring of Fire- a horseshoe-shaped geological disaster zone – could indicate the “big one” is due to hit.

The research, published in the journal Science Advances, involved analysis of 101 major earthquakes around the Pacific Ring of Fire between 1990 and 2016.

EPA