At least seven killed as powerful earthquake rocks Afghanistan

An earthquake of magnitude 6.3 struck northern Afghanistan early on Monday, killing at least seven people and injuring about 150, provincial authorities said.

Residents in Mazar-e Sharif, the country’s fifth-largest city, were woken by powerful tremors shaking their homes about 1am local time (8.30pm GMT).

“A total of 150 people injured and seven martyred have been reported and transferred to health centres as of this morning,” said Samim Joyanda, the spokesperson for the health department in Samangan, a mountainous northern province near Mazar-e Sharif told Reuters.

The toll was based on hospital reports collected as of Monday morning, he said.

The US Geological Survey issued an orange alert and indicated that “significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread”.

The earthquake hit at a depth of 28 km (17.4 miles) near the city, which is home to about 523,000 people.

The country’s national disaster management agency said reports on casualties and damage would be shared later.

The extent of damage from the earthquake could not be immediately verified.

Mazar-e Sharif, a city 56km south of the Uzbekistan border, is famed for its Blue Mosque, one of the region’s most important religious landmarks and a site where pilgrims gather.

Haji Zaid, a Taliban spokesman based in Balkh province (of which Mazar-e Sharif is the capital) posted a video on X appearing to show debris scattered across the ground at the Blue Mosque. The earthquake destroyed part of the holy shrine, he claimed in a social media post. 

Afghanistan is highly susceptible to earthquakes because it is located on top of a number of fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

As many as 2,000 people died after 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit Afghanistan in August.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]