There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the shallow quake, which USGS reported had occurred around 3.30am (2230 GMT) with the epicentre around 60km north-northeast of Barkhan, a city in Pakistan’s mountainous Balochistan province.

Pakistan straddles the boundary where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, making the country susceptible to earthquakes.

The region can be challenging to navigate during crisis situations – in 2015, a 7.5-magnitude quake in Pakistan and Afghanistan killed almost 400 people across rugged terrain that impeded relief efforts.

The country was also hit by a 7.6-magnitude quake in 2005 that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

Balochistan province, Pakistan’s largest, saw a quake in 2021 that killed at least 20 people and left more than 10 injured, with landslides hampering initial rescue efforts in the remote mountainous district of Harnai.