Another earthquake strikes Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD — A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck western Afghanistan on Sunday, just over a week after strong temblors and aftershocks killed thousands of people and flattened entire villages in the same province.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the latest quake’s epicenter was about 21 miles outside Herat, the provincial capital, and 5 miles below the surface.
Save the Children said four people have died and that Herat Regional Hospital has received 153 injured. Everything in the Baloch area of the Rabat Sangi district has collapsed and several villages have been destroyed, according to the aid group. Authorities have given lower casualty numbers.
Sayed Kazim Rafiqi, 42, a Herat resident, said he had never seen such devastation before, with the majority of houses damaged and “people terrified.” Rafiqi and others headed to the hospital to donate much-needed blood.
“We have to help in any way possible,” he said.
The Oct. 7 earthquakes flattened entire villages in Herat in one of the most destructive quakes in the country’s recent history.
More than 90% of the people killed a week ago were women and children, U.N. officials reported Thursday.
Taliban officials said the earlier earthquakes killed more than 2,000 people across the province. The epicenter was in the Zenda Jan district, where the majority of casualties and damage occurred.
The initial earthquake, numerous aftershocks and a second 6.3-magnitude quake on Wednesday flattened villages, destroying hundreds of mud-brick homes that could not withstand such force.