KABUL - A MODERATE earthquake shook northeastern Afghanistan on Sunday, sending people running from their homes, but there were no immediate reports of damage, witnesses and officials said.

The 5.9-magnitude quake struck at 12.53 am (8.23am Singapore time), around 255 kilometres northeast of the capital Kabul and near the border with Pakistan, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake, which struck in the remote Hindu Kush mountain range, was registered at a depth of 220 kilometres, it said.

In the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif and as far away as Kabul, people fled their homes out of fear that buildings could topple, witnesses in both cities said.

Government officials in the northern provinces said they did not yet have reports of damage or casualties but were continuing to gather information from remote areas.

Northern Afghanistan and Pakistan are often hit by earthquakes, especially around the Hindu Kush range near the collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates, where seismic activity is high.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million in October 2005. -- AFP