Eight killed in Afghan quake
(AFP) – 4 hours ago
KABUL — Eight people were killed on Monday when a 5.3-magnitude earthquake hit a remote area of central Afghanistan, disaster management officials said.
The quake, which struck at 00:58 (2028 GMT Sunday), was centred around 190 kilometres (120 miles) northwest of Kabul at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.
Northern Afghanistan and Pakistan are frequently hit by earthquakes, especially around the Hindu Kush range near the collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
Noor Badshah Kuhistani, the head of the operational centre at the national disaster management office in Kabul, said the quake's epicentre was about 125 kilometres east of Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Balkh province bordering Uzbekistan.
Eight people had been killed in the quake with another 15 injured, he told AFP, adding that dozens of houses were damaged.
"No assistance has yet been given because of the remoteness of the damaged area," he said, adding that teams had been dispatched to determine the exact level of damage and number of casualties.
A statement issued by President Hamid Karzai's office said the president was "grieved by the losses in lives and property".
"President Karzai expressed deep condolences to the families of the victims and prays for the recovery of the injured."
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir in October 2005 killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million.
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