The earthquake was felt in Kabul and three other provinces. (Representational)
Kabul:
At least six people were killed and nine others injured after a 5.3-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan overnight, less than three months after a powerful earthquake killed more than 1,000 people, an official said on Monday.
The latest quake was felt in the provinces of Kunar, Laghman and Nangarhar, and in the capital Kabul.
“We are collecting information from other areas regarding casualties and damages,” deputy minister for disaster management Sharafuddin Muslim told AFP.
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes — especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
On June 22, the country’s deadliest earthquake in over two decades — of magnitude 5.9 — killed more than 1,000 people and injured thousands.
In 2015, about 380 people were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake ripped across the two countries.
In recent months Afghanistan has also been hit by flash floods that have killed about 200 people and destroyed thousands of homes.
Such disasters pose a huge logistical challenge for Afghanistan’s Taliban government, which has isolated itself from much of the world by introducing hardline Islamist rule.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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