ISLAMABAD (AP) — A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck western Afghanistan on Sunday, just over a week after strong earthquakes and aftershocks killed thousands of people and leveled entire towns in the same province.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of the latest quake was about 34 kilometers (21 miles) from Herat, the provincial capital, and eight kilometers (five miles) below the surface.
Save the Children said four people were killed and Herat Regional Hospital received 153 injuries. Everything in the Baloch area of the Rabat Sangi district has collapsed. According to the aid group, several villages have been destroyed. Authorities have given lower casualty figures.
Sayed Kazim Rafiqi, 42, a resident of the city of Herat, said he had never seen such devastation before, with most houses damaged and “people terrified”. Rafiqi and others headed to the hospital to donate much-needed blood.
“We have to help in every way possible,” he said.
The October 7 earthquakes leveled entire villages in Herat, in one of the most destructive earthquakes in the country’s recent history.
Residents of Herat call for help, surrounded by unprecedented devastation.AP Despite the large-scale collapse, authorities have reported relatively minor casualty figures.AP
More than 90% of those killed a week ago were women and children, UN officials reported Thursday.
Taliban officials said previous earthquakes killed more than 2,000 people across the province. The epicenter was in the Zenda Jan district, where most of the casualties and damage occurred.
The initial quake, numerous aftershocks and a second magnitude 6.3 quake on Wednesday leveled villages and destroyed hundreds of adobe houses that could not withstand such force. Schools, health clinics and other facilities in the villages also collapsed.
The October 7 earthquakes reduced entire towns to rubble.AP UN officials reported that 90% of those killed in the earthquake a week ago were women and children.AP
Aside from the rubble and funerals after that devastation, little remained of the villages in the region’s dusty hills. Survivors are struggling to come to terms with the loss of several family members, and in many places, living residents are outnumbered by volunteers who have come to search through the rubble and dig mass graves.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn