Afghanistan Earthquake Death Toll Rises To 20

A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake that struck northern Afghanistan overnight has killed more than 20 people and injured around 320 others, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

“In Balkh and Samangan provinces, around 320 people have been injured and more than 20 killed,” ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said in a video message shared with journalists, noting that these figures are preliminary.

According to the US Geological Survey, the quake hit overnight at a depth of 28 kilometers (17 miles), with its epicentre located near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

In Balkh province, where Mazar-i-Sharif serves as the capital, four people were confirmed dead, said Kamal Khan Zadran, a provincial health department spokesman.

Poor communication and infrastructure in Afghanistan’s mountainous regions have historically delayed disaster response efforts, often preventing authorities from reaching affected areas for hours or even days.

The tremor sent residents of Mazar-i-Sharif — one of Afghanistan’s largest northern cities — rushing into the streets in fear that their homes might collapse, an AFP correspondent reported. Shaking was also felt in the capital Kabul, about 420 kilometers to the south.

This marks yet another natural disaster for the Taliban-led government, which has faced three major deadly earthquakes since taking power in 2021, amid a sharp decline in foreign aid that once sustained the economy.

In August, a shallow 6.0-magnitude quake in eastern Afghanistan wiped out entire mountainside villages, killing more than 2,200 people. Large tremors in Herat province in 2023 and in Nangarhar province in 2022 also claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed thousands of homes.

The United Nations and aid organizations have warned of rising hunger across the country, as Afghanistan grapples with a worsening humanitarian crisis fueled by drought, economic restrictions, and the forced return of millions of Afghans from Iran and Pakistan.

Earthquakes are frequent in Afghanistan, especially along the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet. Many homes in the war-ravaged, largely rural country are poorly constructed, and remote villages are often cut off from assistance for long periods due to rugged terrain and limited road access.