Afghanistan earthquake: At least 255 killed as 6.1 magnitude quake hits Paktika province

An earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday, killing at least 255 people, authorities said. Information remained scarce on the magnitude 6.1 temblor that struck Paktika province, but it comes as the international community largely has left Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover of the country last year amid the chaotic withdrawal of the U.S. military from the longest war in its history. That likely will complicate any relief efforts for this country of 38 million people. The state-run Bakhtar news agency reported the death toll and said rescuers were arriving by helicopter. The news agency’s director-general, Abdul Wahid Rayan, wrote on Twitter that 90 houses have been destroyed in Paktika and dozens of people are believed trapped under the rubble. “We call on aid agencies to provide immediate relief to the victims of the earthquake to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe,” government spokesman Bilal Karimi tweeted after quake hit several areas bordering Pakistan during the night. In a tweet, deputy spokesman for the Taliban government, Bilal Karimi, said: “A severe earthquake shook four districts of Paktika province, killing and injuring hundreds of our countrymen and destroying dozens of houses. We urge all aid agencies to send teams to the area immediately to prevent further catastrophe.” According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the epicenter was about 44 km from Khost city in Afghanistan and was at a depth of 51 km.

Notable quake, preliminary info: M 6.1 - 44 km SW of Khōst, Afghanistan https://t.co/4ORKfdDXIR

— USGS Earthquakes (@USGS_Quakes) June 21, 2022

The quake was felt by the people in Pakistan and India as well, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said. The majority of deaths were confirmed in the province of Paktika, where 100 people died and 250 injured, said Mohammad Nassim Haqqani, the head of the Taliban administration’s disaster management authority was reported as saying by the news agency Reuters. Deaths were also reported in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Khost. No immediate casualty or damage was reported from Pakistan. Footage from Paktika province near the Pakistan border showed victims being carried into helicopters to be airlifted from the area. Images widely circulating online from the province showed destroyed stone houses, with residents picking through clay bricks and other rubble. Bakhtar posted footage of a resident receiving IV fluids from a plastic chair outside the rubble of his home and others sprawled on gurneys. “A severe earthquake shook four districts of Paktika province, killing and injuring hundreds of our countrymen and destroying dozens of houses,” Bilal Karimi, a deputy spokesman for the Taliban government, separately wrote on Twitter. “We urge all aid agencies to send teams to the area immediately to prevent further catastrophe.” In neighboring Khost province, authorities believed there are also dozens injured and dead in the earthquake as well, Rayan said. Neighboring Pakistan’s Meteorological Department put the earthquake at a magnitude of 6.1. Tremors were felt in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, and elsewhere in the eastern Punjab province. Some remote areas of Pakistan saw reports of damage to homes near the Afghan border, but it wasn’t immediately clear if that was due to rain or the earthquake, said Taimoor Khan, a disaster management spokesperson in the area. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in a statement offered his condolences over the earthquake, saying his nation will provide help to the Afghan people. The European seismological agency, EMSC, said the earthquake’s tremors were felt over 500 kilometers (310 miles) by 119 million people across Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Mountainous Afghanistan and the larger region of South Asia along the Hindu Kush mountains, where the Indian tectonic plate collides with the Eurasian plate to the north, have long been vulnerable to devastating earthquakes. Poor construction for homes, hospitals and other buildings put them at risk of collapse in earthquakes, while landslides remain common across the mountains of Afghanistan. In 2015, a major earthquake that struck the country’s northeast killed over 200 people in Afghanistan and neighboring northern Pakistan. A similar 6.1 earthquake in 2002 killed about 1,000 people in northern Afghanistan. And in 1998, a 6.1-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tremors in Afghanistan’s remote northeast killed at least 4,500 people. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.