26 dead as twin earthquakes rattle Afghanistan

Quake

Ruin from the earthquake

Twin earthquakes of magnitude 5.3 have hit western Afghanistan, with 26 people reportedly dead on Monday, according to local officials.

At least 12 people were initially killed in the earthquake in Badghis province in western Afghanistan, but AFP has reported death toll reaching 26.

But AP reports that two earthquakes in western Afghanistan killed at least 22 people, quoting a local official.

There were fears the death toll could rise further in Badghis province along the border with Turkmenistan, one of Afghanistan’s most impoverished regions.

The victims were said to have died when roofs of their houses collapsed in Qadis district in the western province of Badghis, according to spokesman for the province Baz Mohammad Sarwary.

He said five women and four children were among the 26 people who died, as the quake inflicted damage on the residents of Muqr district in the province.

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Sarwari, who is the Taliban’s cultural director in Badghis, told the daily Al-Itteha Rooz that only 15 people had been killed in the village of Badruk in Qades district.

Today’s quake shook the western provinces of Afghanistan and the eastern regions of Iran. The quake measured 4.9 on the Richter scale, according to the US Geological Survey. The epicenter was reported below the Qades district of Badghis.

Taliban cultural officials in Badghis say the quake has caused huge financial losses to the people and they are trying to help.

According to Sarwari, a large number of houses in Qala-e-Naw city and districts have been damaged. He stressed that there is a possibility of an increase in human casualties; Because the statistics provided so far are rudimentary.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

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