At least 20 people have been confirmed dead and over 100 injured after a shallow 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan last night
At least 20 people have died and over 100 were injured following a 6.0-magnitude earthquake that hit eastern Afghanistan tonight, as reported by the BBC.
The quake occurred near the Pakistan border in the east of the country at 11.47pm local time (8.17pm UK time) on Sunday, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). The earthquake’s epicentre was 27km (17miles) away from Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province and Afghanistan’s fifth-largest city.
The tremor reportedly caused buildings from Kabul to Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital approximately 370 kilometres away, to shake for several seconds. A second earthquake with a magnitude of 4.5 and a depth of 10km (6.2 miles) struck the same province about 20 minutes later.
This was subsequently followed by a 5.2 earthquake at the same depth.
The death toll is expected to climb – the affected provinces are remote and have rugged terrain, and houses there are not generally earthquake-resistant.
Multiple sources from the Taliban government have told the BBC that “dozens of houses are under rubble” and it is now feared that hundreds of people could be killed and wounded in the earthquake. The government there are asking humanitarian organisations to aid the rescue efforrt in some of the more remote areas.
The police chief of Kunar province told the BBC that many of the roads in the affected area are blocked by landslides and flooding, so the only rescue methods are via air.
Sources told the outlet that at least four helicopters arrived in Mazar valley in Kunar province, the most devastated area, early this morning.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) modelling estimates that “significant casualties are likely” as the disaster is potentially “widespread”.
The USGS notes that previous earthquakes in the region at the same alert level have required a regional or national level response.
Afghanistan is highly prone to earthquakes due to its location on major fault lines between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. Shallow quakes, like the 5.9-magnitude tremor in 2022 that killed over 1,000 people, are especially deadly.
Sunday’s quake struck at an even shallower depth of just 8km, raising fears of high casualties. Construction techniques using mud brick, timber, and weak concrete makes buildings especially vulnerable.
The earthquakes can also often trigger landslides, destroying homes, blocking rivers, and cuting off roads, further hampering rescue efforts in remote mountain areas.
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