Afghanistan, a mountainous region all too familiar with natural disasters, was struck by two earthquakes yesterday (Picture: Getty Images)
Two 6.3 magnitude earthquakes that tore through western Afghanistan on Saturday have killed at least 2,000 people, the Taliban said today.
In the second major quake to strike the mountainous nation in less than two years, more than 9,000 people have been injured.
The tremors’ epicentre was just 25 miles northwest of Herat City, an ancient city and cultural hub which borders Iran, the United States Geological Survey says.
At least seven aftershocks followed the 11am earthquake, including three magnitude 6.3, 5.9 and 5.5 shakes felt in the neighbouring Badghis and Farah provinces at around noon, the agency said.
The Taliban administration declared a state of emergency in fear of more to come.
Mullah Janan Sayeeq, a spokesman for the Ministry of Disasters, said today 2,053 people have died, 9,240 have been injured and 1,320 houses damaged or destroyed.
Given that telephone polls were downed as the nation was rattled by the twin tremors, officials and aid groups say the true death toll is likely to be higher. Many are still missing.
The Herat Province was hardest hit by the quake (Picture: Xinhua/Shutterstock)
The death tally has spiralled in the hours since the earthquake, rising from 500 reported only this morning by the Red Crescent and 16 from Saturday night.
A state health official told Reuters that more than 200 dead have been brought to various hospitals, many of them women and children.
The hardest hit area was Herat Province, according to initial reports from a regional hospital.
This included at least a dozen villages in Zinda Jan District and Ghoryam District and several more villages in Gulran District and Kushak-e-Rabat Sanghi District were impacted
Taliban officials have said there is an urgent need for tents, medicines and food and have appealed to local businesses and humanitarian groups for aid.
Sayeeq added to reporters that 10 rescue teams are combing the rubble and mangled metal in the province for survivors.
Health officials say hundreds of families have been displayed (Picture: Xinhua/Shutterstock)
OCHA Afghanistan, the UN’s humanitarian aid agency in the country, says about 300 families have been displaced.
Social media from the state capital just south of the Paropamisus Mountains showed civilians racing out of their homes and workplaces, wary of them collapsing on top of them.
OCHA Afghanistan said on X, formerly known as Twitter: ‘As deaths and casualties from the earthquake continue to be reported, teams are in hospitals assisting the treatment of wounded and assessing additional needs.
‘WHO-supported ambulances are transporting those affected, most of them women and children.’
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the acting deputy prime minister, expressed his condolences on X.
He said: ‘We wish patience and solace for the families of the victims, along with a swift recovery for the injured.
‘Immediate relief efforts are underway to provide essential aid to those in need.’
Afghanistan, after decades of conflict and the Taliban seizing control in 2021, has become increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters.
On average such disasters affect 200,000 people every year, the OCHA says.
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