2023-10-15 16:16:53
Two dead and 154 injured: this is the latest toll from the new earthquake, of magnitude 6.3, which struck the city of Herat, in the northwest of Afghanistan, on Sunday. This deadly earthquake comes after several tremors since the beginning of the month in this region, including a devastating earthquake which left more than a thousand dead.
The shallow earthquake occurred Sunday morning at 8:06 a.m. local time (03:36 GMT) with an epicenter 33 kilometers from the city of Herat, the American Geophysics Institute (USGS) said.
A 5.5 magnitude aftershock was recorded 20 minutes later, according to the institute.
The earthquake left at least 50 injured who were transported to a regional hospital in Herat, Mohammad Asif Kabir, a local rescue official, told AFP.
Those injured, however, came from the urban area, and national disaster management authorities said they were still assessing the impact of the quake closer to the epicenter.
According to an AFP journalist in Herat, most residents continue to sleep outside a week after a deadly earthquake, fearing further tremors. But some returned to their homes for the night.
“The residents of Herat are panicked and scared,” explains 27-year-old trader Hamid Nizami. “Thank Allah, it happened during the day and people were awake.”
The tremors have increased in recent days
On October 7, entire villages in the Herat region were destroyed in a 6.3 magnitude earthquake.
The Taliban government estimated the death toll at more than a thousand. On Saturday evening, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported nearly 1,400 deaths from this earthquake.
Another major earthquake on October 11, whose epicenter was detected around 30 kilometers north of Herat, created panic in a traumatized population and left at least one dead and around a hundred injured.
The victims of the first earthquake in early October were 90% women and children, UNICEF said on Wednesday.
“Women and children are often at home, taking care of household chores and children, so when a structure collapses, they are most at risk,” Siddig Ibrahim, an official at the agency told AFP. Herat.
At least six rural villages in Zenda Jan district were completely destroyed and more than 12,000 people were affected by the earthquakes, according to the United Nations.
The approach of winter could worsen the crisis
Since the tremors, thousands of people in the province have been sleeping outside, in cars, gardens or tents, their homes having been reduced to dust.
But in this region where the nights are very cold, refugees will not be able to stay in tents for more than a month, say humanitarians.
Afghanistan is already suffering from a serious humanitarian crisis, with the widespread withdrawal of foreign aid since the Taliban’s return to power.
Providing shelter in large quantities, as winter approaches, will be a challenge for the Taliban authorities, who took power in August 2021 and have tense relations with international aid organizations.
Afghanistan frequently experiences earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, near the junction between the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
In June 2022, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake left more than a thousand dead and tens of thousands homeless in the poor province of Paktika (southeast).
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