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Strong earthquake kills at least 280 in Afghanistan

KABUL: An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 killed at least 280 people in Afghanistan early on Wednesday, officials said, adding that hundreds of people were injured and the toll was likely to rise as information trickled in from remote mountain villages.

The quake struck about 44 km (27 miles) from the city of Khost, near the Pakistani border, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGC) said.

“Strong and long jolts,” a resident of the Afghan capital, Kabul, posted on the website of the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).

“It was strong,” said a resident of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

Photographs on Afghan media showed houses reduced to rubble and bodies covered in blankets on the ground.

The EMSC put the magnitude at 6.1 though the USGC said it was 5.9.

Most of the confirmed deaths were in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika, where 255 people had been killed and more than 200 injured, said interior ministry official Salahuddin Ayubi.

In Khost province, 25 people had been killed and 90 taken to hospital, he said.

A shakemap of the earthquake of magnitude 6.1 that struck eastern Afghanistan, near the countrys border with Pakistan, early morning on June 22, 2022. A shakemap represents the ground shaking produced by an earthquake. The information is different from the earthquake‘s magnitude and epicenter as a shakemap focuses on the variation in ground shaking produced by the earthquake, rather than describing the earthquake‘s source or strength.—USGS/Reuters
A shakemap of the earthquake of magnitude 6.1 that struck eastern Afghanistan, near the country’s border with Pakistan, early morning on June 22, 2022. A shakemap represents the ground shaking produced by an earthquake. The information is different from the earthquake‘s magnitude and epicenter as a shakemap focuses on the variation in ground shaking produced by the earthquake, rather than describing the earthquake‘s source or strength.—USGS/Reuters

Tremors were felt across more than 500km of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre, quoted by Reuters.

The centre said that witnesses had reported feeling the quake in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, as well as Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

“Unfortunately, last night there was a severe earthquake in four districts of Paktika province, which killed and injured hundreds of our countrymen and destroyed dozens of houses,” government spokesman Bilal Karimi tweeted.

“We urge all aid agencies to send teams to the area immediately to prevent further catastrophe.”

The earthquake – which hit during the early hours as many people slept – was a magnitude 6.1 quake at a depth of some 51 km, according to the US Geological Survey.

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