Biggest quake in decades kills 1,000 in Afghanistan

KABUL: A powerful earthquake struck a remote border region of Afghanistan overnight, killing at least 1,000 people and injuring hundreds more in one of the country’s deadliest quakes in decades, state media quoted officials as saying on Wednesday. The toll was expected to rise amid ongoing rescue operations.

The quake struck the provinces of Paktika and Khost at around 1:30am (local time) at a depth of 10 kilometres at a magnitude of 5.9, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). However, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) put the magnitude at 6.1. The tremors were felt as far away as Lahore in Pakistan, 480km from the epicentre, according to USGS and EMSC websites.

At least 600 people were injured in the earthquake, disaster management officials said. However, local officials put the number of injured higher at 1,500. An estimated 2,000 homes have been destroyed in the earthquake, and a lack of machinery is hampering a rush to find survivors, the United Nations said. “We believe that nearly 2,000 homes are destroyed,” the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan Ramiz Alakbarov told media persons.

Expressing anguish at the loss of lives and devastation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that India stands by the people of Afghanistan and is ready to provide all possible disaster relief material at the earliest. “Deeply saddened at the news of the devastating earthquake in Afghanistan today. My deepest condolences on loss of precious lives,” he tweeted. “India stands by the people of Afghanistan in their difficult times.”