Reacting to rumours of a tsunami spreading panic among people living along the Sindh-Makran coastal belt after a 5.0-magnitude earthquake struck Gwadar, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Wednesday clarified that the tremors do not pose any tsunami threat.
A spokesperson of the PMD urged people not to panic, adding that the department did not issue any tsunami alert after the earthquake. He maintained that the people living along the coastal belt need not worry.
Talking about tsunami exercises in Karachi and Gwadar, the spokesperson said that these are routine exercises. He said that a powerful earthquake near the shore of Makran can always trigger a tsunami but that there is no timeframe that can be provided.
An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted Gwadar and its surrounding areas on Tuesday night, raising concerns of a tsunami along the coast of Balochistan and Sindh.
According to the National Seismic Monitoring Centre, the earthquake struck Gwader at 2:22am.
The epicentre of the earthquake was 50km away from Gwadar in the Arabian Sea, at a depth of 20km. No casualty or damage of property was reported.
