A powerful earthquake struck northern Afghanistan overnight, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 500 others, the government said on Monday. The 6.3-magnitude quake hit near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, one of the country’s largest urban centres.
According to the US Geological Survey, the tremor occurred at a depth of 28 kilometres, with the epicentre located near Mazar-i-Sharif in Balkh province.
Health ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said, “Based on the information we have so far, 534 people have been injured and more than 20 fatalities have been taken to hospitals in Samangan and Balkh provinces.”
In Mazar-i-Sharif, residents fled their homes in panic as buildings shook. The city’s historic Blue Mosque, a 15th-century landmark, suffered visible damage, with parts of a minaret collapsing onto the grounds.
Reports from Kabul, around 420 kilometres to the south, also confirmed that the tremors were felt in the capital.
Poor infrastructure and limited communication in Afghanistan’s mountainous regions have made disaster response efforts difficult. Authorities often face challenges reaching remote villages to assess casualties and damage.
The Taliban’s deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, said numerous homes were destroyed, resulting in “significant material losses.” The Defence Ministry confirmed that it had cleared and reopened the road between Mazar-i-Sharif and Kholm after rescuing stranded residents.
This is the latest in a series of devastating earthquakes to hit Afghanistan since the Taliban took power in 2021. In August, a 6.0-magnitude quake in eastern Afghanistan killed over 2,200 people and caused an estimated $183 million in damage, according to the World Bank.
Earthquakes frequently strike the region along the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet. Many Afghan homes, weakened by decades of conflict and built with fragile materials, collapse easily during tremors.
The country is already facing a severe humanitarian crisis, worsened by drought, economic sanctions, and the return of millions of displaced Afghans from neighboring Iran and Pakistan. The United Nations and aid agencies have warned that hunger and hardship continue to rise across the nation.
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