Powerful Earthquake Kills 23 and Injures Hundreds in Northern Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – A devastating 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck northern Afghanistan overnight, claiming at least 23 lives, injuring over 670 people, and reducing hundreds of homes to rubble, according to provincial officials on Monday. The quake has triggered a major humanitarian crisis in the already vulnerable region.

The Impact and Immediate Aftermath

The earthquake struck at a shallow depth around 1:00 a.m. local time on Sunday, with its epicenter in the Zinda Jan district of Herat province. The powerful tremors were felt across a wide swath of northern Afghanistan, including the provinces of Balkh, Samangan, Baghlan, Sar-i-Pul, and Kunduz, with shaking reported as far away as the capital, Kabul.

In the immediate aftermath, panic ensued as residents fled their homes in the darkness. The bulk of the casualties and damage occurred in Balkh and Samangan provinces, where many buildings, especially older and mud-brick houses, could not withstand the violent shaking.

Provincial Breakdown of Casualties and Damage

• Samangan Province: Officials from the Samangan Department of Public Health reported 11 fatalities and at least 270 injuries.
  “The injured include men, women and children, most of whom were hurt when the roofs of residential houses collapsed,” said Samim Joyenda, a spokesman for the health department. He confirmed that medical teams, in coordination with relief organizations, are providing emergency services, with ambulances, medicine, and personnel deployed to affected areas.

• Balkh Province: The Balkh governor’s office issued a statement confirming approximately 12 deaths and nearly 400 injuries. The statement highlighted “extensive human and financial losses,” with a significant number of buildings damaged or destroyed in the provincial capital, Mazar-i-Sharif. Areas surrounding the iconic Blue Mosque (the Shrine of Hazrat Ali) were particularly hard-hit.

Rescue and Relief Efforts Underway

Emergency response teams from the Ministry of Public Health and the Afghan Red Crescent Society are actively working to evacuate the wounded and provide critical medical care. However, the scale of the disaster presents immense challenges.

Aid organizations are facing significant logistical hurdles in reaching remote villages, where communication lines are down and roads may be damaged. The coming hours are critical for finding survivors trapped under the debris, and the death toll is feared to rise as rescue workers access more isolated communities.

A Region Vulnerable to Disaster

This earthquake is the latest in a series of seismic events to afflict Afghanistan, which is located in a tectonically active region. The nation’s infrastructure, already strained by decades of conflict and economic crisis, is highly vulnerable to natural disasters. Many homes in rural areas are constructed from unreinforced masonry and mud, offering little protection against strong quakes.

The international community is beginning to assess the damage, and calls for urgent humanitarian assistance are expected to grow as the full extent of the destruction becomes clear. For the survivors, the immediate needs are shelter, clean water, medical supplies, and food, with thousands having lost their homes in the blink of an eye.

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