2023-10-07 12:34:25
It is currently impossible to know the extent of the damage, human and material. A magnitude 6.3 earthquake shook western Afghanistan this Saturday morning, followed by four strong aftershocks, the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS) reported. Its epicenter was located 40 kilometers northwest of Herat – a city considered the cultural capital of Afghanistan – and it was quickly followed by four aftershocks with magnitudes of 5.5, 4.7, 6, 3 and 5.9.
In Herat, which has 1.9 million inhabitants according to World Bank data, the city’s residents and traders fled buildings when the earthquake hit around 11 a.m. But so far, no reports of casualties or material damage have been reported.
“Probable that there will be a significant number of victims”
According to a preliminary USGS report, the earthquake could cause a high number of deaths. “It is likely that there will be a significant number of casualties and that the disaster will potentially be widespread,” the institute said. “Previous events with the same alert level have required a response at the regional or national level.”
On the side of the Taliban government, those responsible for managing natural disasters could not immediately be reached.
A risk zone
In June 2022, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake, the deadliest in Afghanistan in nearly twenty-five years, left more than a thousand dead and tens of thousands homeless in the poor province of Paktika. (South East). And last March, a 6.5 magnitude earthquake killed 13 people in Afghanistan and Pakistan, near the town of Jurm, in the northeast of the country.
Afghanistan frequently experiences earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, close to where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet. The country is already in the grip of a severe humanitarian crisis, since the return to power of the Taliban in 2021 and the subsequent withdrawal of international aid.
#magnitude #earthquake #west #country #report