Powerful earthquake kills at least 100 in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is dramatically bereaved by an earthquake. At least 100 people were killed and dozens injured in a 5.9 magnitude earthquake that hit the southeast of the country overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, according to Afghan authorities. The balance sheet is above all only provisional.

“Many houses have been damaged and people are trapped inside,” said deputy government spokesman Bilal Karimi. “We call on aid agencies to provide immediate relief to earthquake victims to avert a humanitarian catastrophe,” he previously tweeted.

A second almost identical tremor

The earthquake, with a magnitude of 5.9, occurred at a depth of 10 km around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, very close to the border with Pakistan, according to the American Seismological Institute (USGS). A second quake of magnitude 4.5 then hit almost the same place at the same time, according to the USGS.

According to Yaqub Manzor, a tribal leader from Paktika, many of the injured came from Giyan district in the province and were taken to hospital by ambulances and also helicopters. “Local markets are closed and people have rushed [pour aider] in the affected areas,” he said.

A country at the junction of several plates

Photos posted on social media showed collapsed houses in the streets of a village. Videos also showed residents of the affected areas loading injured people into a helicopter. The earthquake was felt in several provinces of the region, and also in the capital Kabul, located about 200 km north of the epicenter.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range which lies at the junction between the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. These disasters can be particularly devastating due to the weak resilience of rural Afghan homes.

Read Also:  They investigate the death of a father and his son in Plácido Ellauri; The bodies were found in their house

Recent Articles

Related News

Leave A Reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here