A robust 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck northern Afghanistan early Monday native time, in line with the USGS and native authorities, sparking fears of mass casualties because the nation’s Taliban authorities put the preliminary dying toll at at the very least 20.
Afghan Well being Ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman stated in an announcement that greater than 20 individuals had been confirmed useless and at the very least 534 others injured. He warned that the figures had been nonetheless topic to alter, and that every one hospitals within the affected area had been placed on standby to cope with the emergency.
“Based mostly on preliminary info, the magnitude of the earthquake was greater than 6, and the epicenter was within the Nakhchir district of Samangan province,” the Afghanistan Nationwide Catastrophe Administration Authority stated in an announcement. The Samangan and neighboring Balkh provinces seemed to be the toughest hit.
Afghan Purple Crescent / Handout by way of Reuters
The earthquake additionally broken electrical energy strains in two areas leaving a number of provinces fully lower off from energy that comes from throughout the border in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, in line with utility firm Breshna Sherkat.
Haji Zahid, a spokesman for the workplace of the Balkh province’s governor, shared a video on social media displaying individuals digging with shovels to search out survivors.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported a quake with a magnitude of 6.3 centered at a depth of about 17 miles, and designated the earthquake a “code orange,” indicating vital casualties and intensive financial losses had been possible, requiring a national-level response.
Mehmet Yaren Bozgun/Anadolu/Getty 
Dr. Tedros Adhonom Ghebreyesus, Director-Basic of the United Nations’ World Well being Group, stated in a social media submit that members of the company’s staff in Afghanistan had been “on the bottom, supporting supply of emergency well being care” for these injured, including his “deepest condolences to those that misplaced family members within the lethal earthquake in a single day.”
Movies posted on social media appeared to indicate the jolt lasting virtually 20 seconds, and the earthquake was so highly effective that it was felt within the capital metropolis of Kabul and different provinces.
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The quake brought about vital harm to the famed Blue Mosque of Mazar-i-Sharif, in line with Zahid, the spokesman for Balkh provincial Governor Muhamad Yousuf Wafa’s workplace. Zahid shared a video of individuals assessing the harm to the constructing, which was nonetheless standing.
The temblor additionally triggered a landslide on the Samangan-Balkh freeway, a key transport route, trapping vehicles and passengers. Movies shared on social media confirmed large rocks blocking the freeway and a truck engulfed in flames.
Monday’s temblor was simply the most recent to hit the earthquake-prone area.
Greater than 2,000 individuals died when a quake struck japanese Afghanistan in August. Most of these affected are nonetheless dwelling in tents, in line with a latest United Nations report.
