Two earthquakes shake western Afghanistan again and leave at least one dead

2023-10-15 08:11:19

Two new earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 and 5.4 shook the city of Herat, in northwest Afghanistan, this Sunday, causing at least one death and 35 injuries, reported the spokesman for the governor of Herat province, Nisar Ahmad Elyas. . Since the beginning of this month this region has recorded several tremors, including a devastating earthquake that caused more than two thousand deaths on Saturday last week.

The 6.5 earthquake was shallow and occurred at 8:06 a.m. local time on Sunday with an epicenter 33 kilometers from the city of Herat, the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS) reported. According to the institute, 20 minutes later an aftershock of magnitude 5.5 was recorded.

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On October 7, entire villages in Zindah Jan district were destroyed by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake and several aftershocks, leaving more than 2,400 dead. Another large earthquake on October 11, whose epicenter was detected about 30 kilometers north of Herat, spread panic among a traumatized population and left at least one dead and a hundred injured.

The victims of the first earthquake that occurred at the beginning of October were 90% women and children, Unicef ​​reported on Wednesday, in a country where women suffer strong repression and have their freedom of movement restricted. “Women and children are usually at home, taking care of household chores and children, so when a structure collapses, they are at greatest risk,” Siddig Ibrahim, an official at the Herat agency, told France Presse. .

A child drinks water in the temporary camp for those affected by the October 7 earthquake, in the Zenda Khan district of Herat

SAMUILLAH POPAL / EFE

At least six rural villages in the Zenda Jan district were completely destroyed and more than 12,000 people were affected by the earthquakes, according to the United Nations. Since the tremors, thousands of people in the province have been sleeping outdoors, in cars, gardens or tents, and their homes have been reduced to dust.

But in this region where nights are very cold, refugees will not be able to stay in tents for more than a month, humanitarians say.

Afghan girls and women carry relief materials to their tents as they cry, frightened by the ferocious sandstorm in the Zenda Jan district.

Ebrahim Noroozi / LaPresse

Afghanistan is already suffering a serious humanitarian crisis, with the widespread withdrawal of foreign aid since the return of the Taliban to power. Providing shelter in large numbers as winter approaches will be a challenge for Taliban authorities, who seized power in August 2021 and maintain 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 magnitude 5.9 earthquake left more than a thousand dead and tens of thousands homeless in the poor southeastern province of Paktika.