AFP | Herat
Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck western Afghanistan on Sunday, damaging the same area where shaking killed more than 1,000 people last week, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The quake struck just after 8 a.m. (3:30 p.m. Japan time) and was centered 33 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of Herat, the capital of the western province of the same name, the USGS said.
A magnitude 5.5 aftershock occurred 20 minutes later.
“So far, 93 people have been injured and one person has died,” Abdul Kadeem Mohammadi, chief doctor at Herat Regional Hospital, told AFP.
The National Disaster Management Authority said it was still assessing the extent of the destruction.
An AFP reporter in Herat city said most residents were still sleeping outdoors for fear of their homes collapsing in nighttime aftershocks, a week after a series of earthquakes began in the region. .
Buy some that have started sleeping inside again.
“People in Herat are panicking and afraid,” said Hamid Nizami, a 27-year-old shopkeeper. “It is the blessing of Allah that it happened during the day and people were awake.”
On October 7, another magnitude 6.3 earthquake and eight powerful aftershocks rocked the same area of Herat, causing widespread destruction of rural homes.
The Taliban government said more than 1,000 people had died in last week’s earthquake, but the World Health Organization (WHO) late Saturday put the number closer to 1,400.
Another quake of similar strength occurred days after the first, leaving thousands of frightened residents stranded without shelter and killing one person as volunteers searched for survivors. 130 people were injured.
The earthquake was followed by a sandstorm that damaged the tents where the survivors were living.
“Many of our compatriots have nowhere to live and the nights are getting colder,” said shopkeeper Nizami.
– “I can’t live here” –
The WHO said the series of disasters affected nearly 20,000 people, with the majority of the dead being women and children.
Thousands of people now live around the ruins of the homes where entire families were wiped out in an instant.
Mohammad Naeem, 40, told AFP he lost 12 relatives, including his mother, in last week’s earthquake.
“We can’t live here anymore. You see, our family was martyred here. How can we live here?”
Earthquakes occur frequently in western and central Afghanistan, most of which are caused by the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates thrusting into each other.
Providing large-scale shelters will be a challenge for Afghan Taliban authorities, who took power in August 2021 and have a rocky relationship with international aid agencies.
“We know they can live there in tents for a month, but beyond that it will probably be very difficult,” Public Health Minister Qalandar Ebad said.
Most rural houses in Afghanistan are made of mud and built around wooden posts, with little steel or concrete reinforcement.
Large, multi-generational families typically live under the same roof, so severe earthquakes can devastate communities.
Afghanistan is already experiencing a dire humanitarian crisis due to the widespread withdrawal of foreign aid following the return of the Taliban to power.