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Gardez (Afghanistan) (AFP) – More than 100 people were killed and dozens were injured in a 5.9-magnitude earthquake that hit southeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, according to Afghan authorities, who fear a much higher toll.
“More than 100 people died in the earthquake,” deputy government spokesman Bilal Karimi told AFP.
“Numerous houses were damaged and people were trapped,” he added.
“We ask aid agencies to provide immediate assistance to earthquake victims to prevent a humanitarian disaster,” he had tweeted earlier.
The magnitude 5.9 earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 km, around 01:30 on Wednesday (21:00 GMT), near the border with Pakistan, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
A second quake of magnitude 4.5 shook almost the same place at the same time, according to the USGS.
According to Yaqub Manzor, a Paktika tribal official, many of the wounded came from Giyan district, and were transported by ambulances and helicopters.
“Local markets are closed and people have rushed (to help) to the affected areas,” he told AFP by phone.
frequent earthquakes
Photos of collapsed houses on the streets of rural towns are seen on social media.
In the videos, residents in the affected areas are seen transporting the wounded to a helicopter.
The earthquakes were felt in several provinces in the region, and also in the capital, Kabul, located about 200 km north of the quake’s epicenter.
Afghanistan frequently suffers from earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush massif, straddling Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is located at the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
These catastrophes can be especially devastating due to the poor resistance of Afghan rural houses.
In October 2015, a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake shook the Hindu Kush mountains, causing a total of more than 380 deaths in the two countries.
The Afghan victims included 12 girls, swept up in panic to try to get out of their shaky school.
Since the Taliban came to power in August, Afghanistan has been going through a serious financial and humanitarian crisis, caused by the blockade of millions of assets abroad and the suspension of international aid, which had sustained the country for two decades and which now It arrives with dropper.
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