14 Dead In Afghanistan Quake Amid Reports Of Landslides And Building Collapses

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck western Afghanistan on Saturday, killing 14 people and injuring 78 others. The toll could rise amid reports of landslides and building collapses.

According to the US Geological Survey, the epicenter was 40 km northwest of Herat, the third-largest city in the country, located in the south of Paropamisus Mountains.

The major tremor was followed by five aftershocks of magnitudes 5.5, 4.7, 6.3, 5.9 and 4.6. Videos widely shared online showed crowds of residents fleeing buildings in the city.

Afghanistan Herat Earthquake Ruling Headlines

“We were in our offices … Wall plasters started to fall down and the walls got cracks, some walls and parts of the building collapsed,” Herat resident Bashir Ahmad told AFP

.”I am not able to contact my family, network connections are disconnected. I am too worried and scared, it was horrifying,” he added.

Home to an estimated 1.9 million people, Herat is considered the cultural capital of Afghanistan. The major quake has been ruling headlines on Saturday.

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Afghanistan’s Brutal Connection With Earthquakes

Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to seismic activity due to the collision of the Indian tectonic plate with the Eurasian plate to the north, triggering deadly earthquakes.

In June 2022, over 1,000 people lost their lives and another 1,500 sustained injuries of varying severities in a 6.1 magnitude quake that struck the country’s Paktika province.

It was the deadliest tremor in Afghanistan in nearly a quarter of a century. Tens of thousands were made homeless in the disaster.

One Of The Deadliest Was Recorded In 1998

This year, 13 people lost their lives in March in an earthquake that hit near Jurm in northeastern Afghanistan. Earlier on October 3, a tremor of 4.7 struck Fayzabad.

A devastating quake hit the country’s northeast in 2015, killing 200 in Afghanistan and neighbouring northern Pakistan. One of the deadliest was recorded in 2002.

That year, around 1,000 people were killed in the northern region. And a 6.1 magnitude earthquake in 1998, and subsequent tremors, killed at least 4,500 Afghans.