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Earthquake in Afghanistan/ At least 20 dead

2025-11-03 07:51:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

At least 20 people have died after an earthquake struck northern Afghanistan, local authorities say, with the death toll expected to rise as rescue efforts continue.

Hundreds more have been injured, local officials told the BBC.

The earthquake struck near Mazar-e-Sharif, one of the largest cities in Afghanistan, with about 500,000 residents, in the early hours of Monday, at around 01:00 local time (20:30 GMT).

According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3 and a depth of 28 km (17 miles) and was marked at an orange alert level, indicating that there are likely to be "significant casualties".

Sharafat Zaman Amar, a spokeswoman for the Taliban government's health ministry, said more than 20 people were killed and more than 320 others were wounded.

Provincial officials previously told the BBC that the death toll was likely to rise as rescue efforts continued.

Haji Zaid, a Taliban spokesman in Balkh province, previously wrote on X that many people have been injured in Sholgara district, south of Mazar-e-Sharif.

He said they had received "reports of minor injuries and superficial damage from all districts of the province."

"Most of the injuries were caused by people falling from tall buildings," he wrote.

Mazar-e Sharif is home to more than 500,000 people. Many of the city's residents rushed to the streets when the quake struck, fearing their homes would collapse, AFP reported. The Taliban spokesman in Balkh also posted a video on X showing debris strewn across the ground at the Blue Mosque, a local landmark in Mazar-e-Sharif.

The religious complex is believed to house the tomb of the first Shia Imam, a religious leader believed to possess divine knowledge. It is now a place where pilgrims gather to pray and celebrate religious events.

Khalid Zadran, a Taliban spokesman for the police in Kabul, wrote on X that police teams were "closely monitoring the situation."

According to its spokesman, many casualties were also reported in Samangan, a mountainous province near Mazar-e-Sharif.

Monday's quake follows a 6.0-magnitude quake that struck Afghanistan's mountainous eastern region in late August, killing more than 1,000 people. That quake was particularly deadly because rural homes in the region were typically built of mud and wood. Residents were trapped when their homes collapsed during the quake.

Afghanistan is highly prone to earthquakes due to its location atop a number of fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet./CNA, translated by BBC