According to officials from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), Karachi experienced three more low-intensity earthquakes on Tuesday morning, making it a total of 19 mild earthquakes in the past three days.

The tremors, all classified as low to moderate intensity, ranged from 2.1 to 3.6 magnitude on the Richter scale. The strongest tremor, recorded on Sunday, was of 3.6 magnitude, while the weakest was of 2.1.

PMD Director General Mahr Sahibzad Khan, during an appearance on Dawn News TV’s program ‘Doosra Rukh’, said Karachi will continue to experience low-intensity earthquakes for the next two to three days.

“The tremors will continue but not with high intensity. The fault line is not very active. They will end after two to three days,” he added.

He said there is no need for Karachi residents to panic. “There is nothing to worry about for people of Karachi,” he said.

Groundwater Depletion and Tanker Mafia Linked to Tremors

The PMD chief claimed the earthquakes in Karachi are being caused by a lack of groundwater and illegal extraction by the “tanker mafia.”

He explained that Karachi has minor fault lines in areas like Korangi and Malir and the tremors are being felt near those fault lines.

“The main problem in Karachi is that there is no ground water. If you remove the hard rocks, there is only sand,” he said.

Moreover, he added that there is a strong tanker mafia in Karachi. They take out water through pumping or other illegal means.

He said that the pumping is being done over the fault lines, leading to what he called “induced earthquakes.”

Regarding the collapse of a wall at Malir prison and the resulting jailbreak, he said, “It (Malir jail) was located near the epicentre. The intensity is greater in the areas near the epicentre.”