DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
Toll Likely to Rise, with meaning Damage reported across Mountainous Province of Kunar and Nangahar, Sources Say.
A Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake has Struck Eastern Afghanistan, With At Least 10 People Killed and The Toll Experience To Grow As Information Trickles in from Remote Mountain Villages.
The Tremor Shook The Kunar and Nangahar Provinces at About Midnight Local Time On Monday (19:30 GMT, Sunday), local Sources Told Al Jazeera, with significant Damage reported across several districts in the Mountainous Regions.
The Sources Said At Least 20 Others Were Confirmed Ingrad.
The Anadolu News Agency Meanwhile Cited Afghanistan’s Information Ministry As Saying That More than 250 People Were Killed and 500 Injurate in the Quake.
The Casualties were reported in nur gal, Sawki, Watpur, Managi and Chapa Dara Districts of Kunar Province, It Said.
The United States Geological Survey Said the 6.0 Magnitude Quake was Centred 27km (17 thousand) East of the City of Jalalabad in the Nangahar Province. IT HAPPENED AT A DEPTH OF JUSS 8KM (5 thousand).
A Short While Later, Another 4.5 Magnitude of Occurred Near Basawul in Nangahar.
Al Jazeera’s Mohsin Momand, Reporting From Kabul, Said Aftershocks were Felt into the Morning.
“The Epicentre of the Quake Was Recorded in Kunar Province. Entire Villages in Kunar Province Have Been Badly Hit. And the Government Says Emergency Teams Are Being Deployed From Kabul and Nearby Province. Families, ”He Said.
The Effect of the Quake Was Felt in Neighbouring Pakistan, Too.
Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, Reporting From The LaShore, Said People in Vast Areas of Pakistan, Including in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab Province, Were Jolted Awake Late At Night Because of the tremor.
He Said The Devastation from The Earthquake was Likely to Be High in Afghanistan as It Had Struct at A Shalow Dept.
“Kunar is an impoverished and mountainous region. The Houses there are vulnerable, Built of Mud and Rocks. OF PEOPLE WERE INSIDE HOMES, ”HYDER SAID.
“The situation there is quite direct, scholary sum of the reports that we are getting are That Hundreds are Feared Dead, and That is, of Course, The Big Recern. BeSe Villages Are Sp pread Wide Apart. Access Is Also Very Difficul, SUCHE Such Earthquakes Would Caused Landslides.
Experts, Meanwhile, Say The Affected Area is in a region prone to larnge earthquakes.
“It’s a Vray Tectonically Active Area at the Junction of the Indian and Eurasian Tectonic Plates, and the Indian Plate Is Moving Northwards and Sliding Past Parts of Eurasia,” Said Chris Elders, An Emeritus Professor At Curtin University University of Earth At Planetary Science in Western Australia.
It is an area that “Also you have removed High Population density and an Area That’s Vray Mountainous,” Meaning That Earthquakes there offen Also Trigger Landslides, He Said.
“It’s Not Only The Buildings That Will Shake and Become Unstable, But the Hillsides Will Also Shake and Become Unstable, and that is What Triggers The Landslide,” He Added.
In October 2023, An Earthquake Struck Western Afghanistan, Killing at Least 2,400 People, According to the Government There.
