A powerful earthquake killed at least 20 people in northern Afghanistan, authorities reported Monday, barely months after another fatal tremor devastated the country.
According to the US Geological Survey, the 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck overnight at a depth of 28 kilometers (17 miles), with the epicenter near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
“Based on the information we have so far, 534 people have been injured, and more than 20 fatalities have been taken to hospitals in Samangan and Balkh provinces,” health ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman told journalists.
In Mazar-i-Sharif, one of Afghanistan’s largest northern cities, an AFP correspondent witnessed residents fleeing into the streets.
The city’s renowned Blue Mosque, a 15th-century landmark notable for its colorful tiles, was also damaged.
Pieces of the monument, particularly one of its minarets, came off and spread across the mosque’s grounds, which is one of the country’s few remaining tourist attractions.
Correspondents in Kabul, about 420 kilometers to the south, also reported shaking.
Poor communication networks and infrastructure in mountainous Afghanistan have previously impeded disaster response, preventing authorities from reaching remote areas for hours or even days to assess the extent of the damage.
The military ministry claimed it had cleaned and reopened the main route connecting Mazar-i-Sharif and the town of Kholm, as well as rescued those who had been stuck overnight.
“Numerous homes have been destroyed, and significant material losses have been incurred,” Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Taliban authorities, wrote on X, without specifying a number.
It is the latest natural tragedy for the Taliban regime, which has weathered three large catastrophic earthquakes since assuming power in Afghanistan in 2021, despite a significant decline in international aid, which served as the country’s economic foundation.
In August, a shallow 6.0-magnitude earthquake in the country’s east destroyed mountainous settlements, killing around 2,200 people.
The World Bank estimates that the August earthquake caused $183 million in damage to buildings and infrastructure.
Earthquakes are prevalent in Afghanistan, especially along the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates collide.
Large earthquakes in western Herat, near the Iranian border, in 2023 and in eastern Nangarhar province in 2022 killed hundreds of people and destroyed thousands of homes.
Many homes in the primarily rural country, which has been destroyed by decades of war, are poorly constructed.
Afghanistan is experiencing a humanitarian crisis exacerbated by drought, economic limitations on the banking sector, and the return of millions of Afghan citizens from neighboring Iran and Pakistan.
The United Nations and relief groups have warned that hunger is on the rise.
