A strong earthquake lasting for at least 30 seconds was felt across much of Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India Tuesday night, with the United States Geological Survey putting the magnitude at 6.5.

'People ran out of their houses and were reciting the Koran,' an AFP correspondent in Pakistani city of Rawalpindi said, with similar reports coming from elsewhere in the country and in Afghanistan.

USGS said the quake was centered near Jurm in northeastern Afghanistan and had a depth of 187 kilometers (116 miles).

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

More than 1,000 people were killed and tens of thousands made homeless after a 5.9-magnitude quake -- the deadliest in Afghanistan in nearly a quarter of a century -- struck the impoverished province of Paktika on June 22 last year.