A 5.3 Richter scale earthquake that struck several Afghan provinces on Monday morning resulted in at least six fatalities and nine injuries.
“Six people were killed and nine others were injured in the earthquake in Kunar’s Noorgul district,” a local official in Kunar province said.
According to the official, dozens of residences were destroyed across the province, according to Tolo News.
According to the US Geological Survey, the epicentre of the earthquake was Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, and it occurred at 2:27 AM (Afghanistan Time) at a depth of 10 kilometres (USGS).
According to preliminary reports, the earthquake shook Kabul, Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar, and Nuristan, as well as areas on the other side of the Durand Line.
According to the Pakistani media, earthquake tremors were felt in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Mardan, Abbottabad, Swabi, Mohmand, Bajour, Buner, and surrounding areas.
However, the extent of the damage or casualties in Pakistan is unknown.
Earthquakes occur often in Afghanistan, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which is located at the confluence of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
The magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck the nation on June 22 killed over 1,000 people and wounded thousands more.
A 7.5-magnitude earthquake blasted through Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2015, killing around 380 people.
Afghanistan has also been devastated by flash floods in recent months, which have killed nearly 200 people and damaged thousands of houses.
Such calamities offer a significant logistical issue for Afghanistan’s Taliban administration, which has cut itself off from most of the rest of the world by instituting extreme Islamist rule.
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