Mumbai: At least 14 people died and 78 others sustained injuries after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit western Afghanistan, officials said. The major earthquake was followed by five aftershocks with magnitudes of 5.5, 4.7, 6.3, 5.9 and 4.6.
According to a preliminary report by the United States Geological Survey, hundreds of fatalities were possible.
In videos shared widely on social media, crowds of residents and shopkeepers were seen fleeing buildings in the city.
“We were in our offices and suddenly the building started shaking,” 45-year-old Herat resident Bashir Ahmad told AFP, adding, Wall plasters started to fall down and the walls got cracks, some walls and parts of the building collapsed.”
“I am not able to contact my family, network connections are disconnected. I am too worried and scared, it was horrifying,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the National Disaster Management Organization told AFP that the first death toll was “preliminary” and that he expected it to grow because “there have been landslides as well in the rural and mountainous areas.”
“Currently, we don’t have all the information and details,” he stated.
According to a preliminary USGS analysis, hundreds more fatalities were also possible.
“Significant casualties are probably going to happen, and the calamity could spread widely. Past occurrences at this level of warning have called for a regional or national reaction,” it stated.
Herat, which is regarded as Afghanistan’s cultural center, is located where the population of Herat, which is known as Afghanistan’s cultural center, is 1.9 million people. The deadliest earthquake to hit Afghanistan in over 25 years—a 5.9-magnitude one—left more than 1,000 people dead and tens of thousands homeless in June of last year.
13 individuals lost their lives in Afghanistan in March of this year as a result of an earthquake that occurred close to Jurm in northern Afghanistan.
In March this year, 13 people were killed in Afghanistan following a quake that hit near Jurm in northeastern Afghanistan.
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