As soon as an earthquake of 7.7 magnitude jolted parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan and India on Monday, eyewitness accounts started pouring on the internet.

The updates below provide a real-time view of the earthquake as it struck.

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Mohammad Azam Khan, 32 – Islamabad

I was surrounded by a lot of people at the market, when the earthquake struck. We were just waiting for the tremors to stop but they went on uninterruptedly. There was pin-drop silence on the streets the whole while. The fact that the phones were not working was adding to my panic because I couldn’t reach anyone home.

Ahsun Akhtar, 31 – Islamabad

I was sitting in my showroom. Three cars were parked out on the footpath and three others were parked on the road. I saw the cars on the footpath shaking.

Asad Ali, 32 – Islamabad

I was having lunch with my team members when it started. First, we waited for a few seconds but when we realised it was not coming to an end, we ran to the balcony of our room. The last shock was the most severe.

Amjad Qamar, 34 – Islamabad

I was at my office in Islamabad when my chair started shaking. I understood that it was an earthquake, I alerted everyone in the office and ran out. The ground was shaking but worse of all the sound of the earthquake. It was horrible noise. This was a scary experience.

Anam Hameed, 29 – Islamabad

I was getting ready for the office when I heard a loud sound; it was gate rattling. My parents and I ran out of the house immediately to find our entire neighbourhood out on the streets.

Bilal Shah, 30 – Islamabad:

I was taking tea in my office. All of a sudden, I felt two big jolts under my feet. At first, I thought it was just an ordinary tremor, but then suddenly, I heard the windows rattle up and I rushed out of the building of my office. It was scary.

Faisal Farooq, 28 – Rawalpindi:

I was in my apartment on the third floor near Commercial market in Rawalpindi, and I literally felt death. The building was moving like a swing. My legs are still shivering.

Rida Maria, 22 – Rawalpindi:

I was in my MBBS class at Foundation University Medical College. Suddenly, I felt my chair shake. It was a massive jolt. All of my classmates left the class and gathered in the courtyard of the university. I did not return to the class.

Syed Hammad – Lahore

I was busy in routine work when one of my staffer entered the room and said “please sir leave the room as the building is shaking due to earthquake”.

It was only after hearing my subordinate I realised that the wall and table were spinning. It felt as if my head was also spinning.

The shocks were strong enough to cause cracks in buildings.

In Islamabad:

In Rawalpindi:

In Kashmir:

There were some accounts of damage in the far flung areas of northern Pakistan.

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Read the guide: What you should do when an earthquake strikes