Today's Edition
Mazar-i-Sharif (AFP)
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck northern Afghanistan early on Monday, the US Geological Survey said, just months after another deadly tremor left the country reeling as it contends with a series of humanitarian crises.
The latest quake hit in the early hours of the morning at a depth of 28 kilometers with the epicentre near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to the USGS.
Four people were killed in Balkh province, where Mazar-i-Sharif is the capital, according to Kamal Khan Zadran, a health department spokesman.
He said the provincial hospital was also treating 120 people for injuries.
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) spokesman Mohammadullah Hamad said that five people had been killed and 143 wounded in neighbouring Samangan province.
"Most of the injured have returned home after receiving treatment," he said in a statement.
Poor communication networks and infrastructure have in the past hampered disaster response in the mountainous country, preventing authorities from reaching far-flung villages to assess the extent of damage for hours or even days.
The quake sent residents of Mazar-i-Sharif, one of Afghanistan's largest northern cities, running into the streets due to fears their homes would collapse, an AFP correspondent observed, and shaking was felt around 420 kilometres south by correspondents in the capital Kabul.
In August, a shallow 6.0-magnitude quake in the country's east wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people.
Large tremors in western Herat, near the Iranian border, in 2023, and in eastern Nangarhar province in 2022 killed hundreds and destroyed thousands of homes.
The United Nations and aid agencies have warned hunger is rising in the Afghan population and the isolated country is suffering from a humanitarian crisis compounded by drought, economic restrictions on the banking sector, and the pushback of millions of Afghan citizens from neighbours.
Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.
