Northwest Pakistan witnessed a moderate earthquake on Saturday, September 20, 2008. Officials informed that the quake measured 5.4 on the Richter scale and occurred at about 8.55 a.m. No immediate reports of any damage or casualties have come in yet. Mohammad Akram, an official from the seismological department, said the quake tremors were experienced in the northwestern city of Mansehra and even in the capital Islamabad.

Mohammad Akram further informed that the epicentre was located in the mountains of Tajikistan around 440 kilometres (273 miles) north of Peshawar. Northwest Pakistan and Kashmir witnessed a massive quake in October 2005 in which some 74,000 people had died, whereas 3.5 million got displaced.