At Least 12 Killed In Afghanistan-Pakistan Earthquake

Earthquake which struck around 09:30 pm (1700 GMT) Kabul time on Tuesday and endured over 30 seconds, was felt from focal Asia to New Delhi.

Kabul: A powerful earthquake that was felt thousands of kilometers away killed at least 12 people in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but the region appeared to have avoided the widespread casualties that are typically associated with a tremor of this magnitude on Wednesday.

The magnitude 6.5 quake was located near Jurm in northeastern Afghanistan, according to the United States Geological Survey, but the depth of 187 kilometers (116 miles) prevented extensive damage.

From central Asia to New Delhi, the quake was felt around 09:30 pm (1700 GMT) on Tuesday. It lasted more than 30 seconds.

'Stayed awake' all night

"We feared maximum damage due to the intensity," Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for Pakistan's emergency Rescue 1122 service in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told AFP. "It was a powerful earthquake."

"Fortunately, however, our fears were unfounded. The magnitude of the earthquake caused residents to panic, but there was little damage."

Quakes frequently strike the area, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which is close to where the Indian and Eurasian plates meet.

"Stayed awake" all night in one village in the Jurm district, near the epicentre, and despite the location, there were no casualties.

When contacted by phone, Inamullah stated, "We are about 2,000 to 3,000 people in our village, and we all spent the night outside under the sky."

"We were all afraid, and we stayed up all night."

Many frightened residents of Afghanistan and Pakistan's cities and towns also fled their homes in search of safety away from buildings.

Neda Raihan, a 24-year-old student in Kabul, told AFP, "We stayed the night in our courtyard... it was cold outside, but we preferred to stay out rather than go back."

After large cracks appeared in the structure, Khudadad Heights, a vast multi-story residential block in the capital of Pakistan, was evacuated.

An earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria last month killed over 55,000 people, raising concerns across the region.

"The children began yelling that an earthquake was happening. Everyone ran out. Ikhlaq Kazmi, a retired professor in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, stated, "The horrors of the earthquake in Turkey and neighboring countries had a strong effect on our nerves."

Nine people, including two women and two children, were reportedly killed in the quake, according to officials in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, north of the capital of Pakistan.

Officials in Afghanistan reported 44 injuries and three deaths, but there were no phone or internet connections to remote areas and communication was patchy.

High alert

Zabihullah Mujahid, a government spokesperson, stated that all of the nation's health facilities had been placed on high alert.

Noor Mohammad Hanifi, a shopkeeper, set up tents in the street in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, for his family to spend the night in.

As Hanifi's family took cover under blankets, he told AFP, "Nobody dares to go inside their homes."

When the earthquake struck, many families in Afghanistan were celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

Masieh, who was outside with his family when the tremor struck, stated, "I heard people screaming and yelling as they came out in the streets."

"I'm still waiting outside because it's possible that there could be another tremor."

Those who were indoors also quickly left their apartments and homes.

An AFP correspondent stated, "They just fled without wearing shoes, just carrying their children in their hands."

The National Disaster Management Authority was instructed by Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to be prepared for any emergency.

The impoverished province of Paktika was struck in June by a 5.9-magnitude earthquake, the deadliest in Afghanistan in nearly a quarter of a century, which killed over 1,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 has made the humanitarian crisis there even worse.

Only on JioSaavn.com can you listen to the most recent songs. Following the takeover, the South Asian nation's reliance on international development funding diminished, and assets held abroad were frozen.