 "A rescuer works following an earthquake in Afghanistan. Afghan Red Crescent/Reuters")
The people of Afghanistan woke up in the early hours of Monday (November 3) in a state of panic after a 6.3-eathquake struck the region. The powerful temblor in Afghanistan comes just months after another quake killed thousands, causing widespread damage along a mountainous stretch of provinces in eastern Afghanistan.
The quake struck near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif early on Monday with latest reports stating that at least 20 have died and another 150 have been injured.
This quake is the second such instance in less than two months, which has everyone asking — why is Afghanistan so prone to temblors?
Afghanistan rocked by 6.3-strong quake
A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake has struck near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif with conflicting reports on fatalities. Initially reports said that some five are dead, but latest AFP numbers put the tally at 20. Reports add that another 150 people have been injured so far.
According to the US Geological Survey, the quake’s epicentre was located 22 kilometres west-southwest of Khulm, Afghanistan, at a depth of 28 kilometres.
Samim Joyanda, the spokesperson for the health department in Samangan, a mountainous northern province near Mazar-e Sharif told Reuters, “A total of 150 people have been injured and seven martyred have been reported and transferred to health centres as of this morning.”
People living in Mazar-e Sharif, which is a city of 500,000 people, rushed to the streets when the quake struck, as they feared their houses would collapse. One resident told CNN that she and her family ran down the stairs screaming when the quake struck. “I have never experienced such a strong earthquake in my life,” she said, adding that the tremors broke some of her windows and damaged the plaster on some of her walls.
“I am happy that my house is made of concrete in the city,” she told CNN. “I don’t know if houses made of mud have survived this earthquake in the outskirts of the city.”
The Taliban spokesman in Balkh also posted a video on X appearing to show debris strewn across the ground at the Blue Mosque , a local landmark in Mazar-e-Sharif. Khalid Zadran, a Taliban spokesman for the police in Kabul, wrote on X that police teams were “closely monitoring the situation”.
News agency AFP also reported that the famous Blue Mosque of Mazar-i-Sharif, a 15th-century landmark famed for its vibrant tiles, had been damaged as a result of the tremors. An AFP journalist noted that pieces of the ornate structure, particularly from one of its minarets, broke off and lay scattered across the mosque’s grounds.
Experts, according to a RFE/RL, said that they fear “significant casualties” as a result of the quake.
Afghanistan’s history of earthquakes
Deadly earthquakes such as today’s is quite common in Afghanistan, with poor construction and infrastructure assets often hampering rescue efforts. Brian Baptie, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, has been quoted as saying that since 1900, northeastern Afghanistan has been hit by 1at least 12 quakes with a magnitude above seven.
Before Monday’s quake, Afghanistan was rocked by a powerful 6-magnitude earthquake on August 31 , shaking the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar. Thousands died in that temblor.
Prior to that, three earthquakes rocked Herat province in October 2023, in one of the country’s deadliest natural disasters in years. On October 7, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck western Afghanistan’s Herat province. Three days later, on October 11, another magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the province, and on October 15, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake was recorded. According to the British Red Cross Society, at least 2,445 people were killed in these earthquakes.
In March too of that year, a 6.5 earthquake struck the northeastern province of Badakhshan, near the border with Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
In June 2022, more than 1,000 people were killed when an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck Khost and Paktika provinces.
The strongest quake to have hit Afghanistan occurred in October 2015 when a 7.5-temblor struck near the Hindu Kush region in northeastern Afghanistan. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), 117 people were killed.
One Reuters report has found that earthquakes cause the most fatalities in Afghanistan, killing about 560 people on average each year and causing annual damages estimated at $80 million.
Science behind Afghanistan’s shaky past
But why is it that Afghanistan has seen so many quakes so far? The answer lies in Afghanistan’s geography.
The impoverished country is located over multiple fault lines — where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. As these plates collide frequently, they result in tectonic activity, resulting in earthquakes.
Geologists note that Afghanistan is located on the Eurasian plate. They say that the collision and convergence of the Indian and Eurasian plate results in the folding and faulting of the Earth’s crust — resulting in earthquakes in Afghanistan.
Moreover, Afghanistan is also crisscrossed by various active fault systems like the Chaman Fault and the Main Pamir Thrust. These faults are the sources of many earthquakes in the region.
Experts further note that eastern and northeastern Afghanistan is more vulnerable to earthquakes. This includes Afghanistan’s Kabul and its mountains where they can trigger landslides, exacerbating loss of life and property.
What makes earthquakes even more dangerous in Afghanistan, as per experts, is because of the poor infrastructure. Dr Baptie told the BBC, “Afghanistan is particularly vulnerable, because the buildings there are not earthquake-resistant. They tend to be built of timber and adobe — a type of mud brick — or out of weak concrete.”
Additionally, the damage from Afghanistan’s earthquakes is largely owing to the landslides; they can flatten houses, block rivers and cause widespread flooding.
The country’s leadership also compounds rescue efforts. With the Taliban retaking control of Afghanistan since 2021, many countries have distanced themselves from the nation. As a result, humanitarian aid has slowed down and this worsens the situation during a crisis.
With inputs from agencies