A strong earthquake killed at least 20 people in northern Afghanistan

PESHAWAR (Pakistan) – At least 20 people were killed and hundreds more injured in Afghanistan after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck the northern part of the country early Monday morning, the ruling Taliban said.

Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said the death toll may rise as rescue teams arrive and assess the damage, adding that at least 320 people were injured.

The 6.3-magnitude quake struck near one of Afghanistan's largest cities, Mazar-i-Sharif, at a depth of about 17 miles just before 1 a.m. local time (3:30 p.m. EDT Sunday), according to the US Geological Survey.

The US Geological Survey issued an orange alert under its Automated Earthquake Impact Assessment System, meaning “significant casualties are likely and the disaster is likely to be widespread.” She added that previous events with the same level of alert “required a response at the regional or national level.”

More than 500,000 people live in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh Province.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the earthquake also affected the northern provinces of Samangan and Baghlan.

Rescuers were seen pulling civilians, including a child, from under collapsed mud-brick houses using their bare hands in a video released by the Afghan Ministry of National Defence.

The United Nations in Afghanistan said on the X website that its teams are on the ground to deliver aid.

She added: “We stand with the affected communities and will provide the necessary support.”

Afghanistan, which lies along several fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian plates meet, is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes.

More than 2,200 people were killed when a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan on August 31. The United Nations said that the lack of international aid, as well as the restrictions imposed by the Taliban on its female employees, had hampered the delivery of aid.

The country, one of the poorest countries in the world, was still suffering from a 6.3-magnitude earthquake and aftershocks in 2023 that the United Nations estimated killed about 1,500 people in the western province of Herat, and a 6.0-magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale that killed about 1,000 people in eastern Afghanistan in 2022.

Monday's earthquake is the fourth major earthquake in Afghanistan since the withdrawal of US-led forces from the country in 2021.

Mushtaq Yousafzai reported from Peshawar, and Mithil Agarwal reported from Hong Kong.

Mushtaq Yousafzai

Mushtaq Yousafzai is a journalist based in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Methyl Agarwal

Mithil Agarwal is a Hong Kong-based correspondent/producer for NBC News.

Jay Ganglani contributed.

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