LAHORE: Collapse of the cellular communication system added to the panic among Lahorites after an intense earthquake jolted the city on Monday.

The tremors of the huge seismic activity forced almost everyone to move to open space and brought to a halt every activity.

After coming out of their workplaces, most of the people were seen trying to contact their near and dear ones. However, many of them failed in their attempt as the communication networks of all the five cellular phone companies could not cater to massive panic calling and collapsed.

The going down of the communication networks created apprehensions that the quake might have damaged the towers of the cellular companies, disrupting their service.

An over-burdened system of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) also resulted in disruption of internet and land-line phones` service which took well over half-an-hour to return to normalcy.

Aasim, who was on his way to pick up his children from the school, says, `I first thought a rear tyre of my car had flattened. The whole car was shaking when I applied brakes. It seemed as if someone was pushing it back and forth but there was no vehicle around. It was then that I realised it was an earthquake,` Aasim told Dawn by phone.

The quake also affected the ongoing first-class cricket in the city. Lahore Whites were facing National Bank at the LCCI ground while Lahore Blues were playing against Sui Southern Gas Pipelines Ltd at Qadhafi Stadium. However, both the matches were resumed after an hour or so.