Nine people were killed and dozens were injured in northwest Pakistan due to the magnitude 6.5 earthquake which rattled much of Pakistan and Afghanistan late on Tuesday.

The quake also left at least four people killed and 50 injured in Afghanistan.

Houses and buildings in both countries were also damaged, authorities said.

The epicenter of the powerful earthquake was in the northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan, 40km southeast of Jurm village, at the considerable depth of 187km, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake was felt over an area more than 1,000 kilometers wide by some 285 million people in Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.

Large parts of South Asia are seismically active because a tectonic plate known as the Indian plate is pushing north into the Eurasian plate.

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed more than 1,000 people last year.

In 2015, a strong earthquake measuring 7.5 magnitude on the Richter scale shook Pakistan and Afghanistan, killing nearly 400 people and causing widespread damage.

Source: Qatar News Agency