At least six people were killed and nine injured in an earthquake in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border early Monday, the Afghan government announced.
“An earthquake occurred at 2:30 am local time in Kabul, Laghman, Kunar and Nangarhar provinces,” Afghan Deputy Minister for Natural Disasters Sharafuddin Muslim said.
According to the same source, quoted by Agence France-Presse, “six people were killed and nine were injured in Kunar province” in northeastern Afghanistan.
The official added that the authorities are “collecting information from other areas to find out if there are more victims and assess the damage.”
The earthquake was of magnitude 5.3, according to the Seismological Institute of the United States (USGS).
This earthquake comes three months after Afghanistan’s worst earthquake in more than two decades.5.9 magnitude in the southeast on June 22, which killed more than 1,000 people and left thousands homeless.
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which sits at the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
Tremors often have disastrous consequences, due to the weak resistance of Afghan households in rural areas.
In October 2015, a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck the Hindu Kush mountain range as it passed through Afghanistan and Pakistan, killing more than 380 people in both countries.
In recent months, Afghanistan has also been hit by flash floods that have killed around 200 people and destroyed thousands of homes in several provinces.
These catastrophes pose a huge logistical challenge for the Taliban government, which has isolated itself from much of the world by establishing an Islamic fundamentalist regime.
Source: Observadora
