Hundreds have actually passed away and millions felt ‘strong and long jolts’ following a big earthquake in Afghanistan.
The magnitude 6.1 quake struck near the city of Khost, in the south east of the nation.
The death tolls presently stands at 950, with around 600 individuals hurt.
Many of those impacted by the earthquake reside in remote mountain towns and towns, suggesting information are sluggish to emerge.
Houses have actually collapsed and individuals are apparently still caught below debris.
Local authorities are still working to trace survivors and deal with those hurt.
Afghanistan’s Bakhtar News Agency reported today: ‘Local officials say the death toll could rise if the central government did not provide emergency help.’
The bulk of validated deaths remained in the province of Paktika, where a minimum of 100 individuals were eliminated and 250 hurt.
In the nation’s east, 130 individuals likewise lost their lives.
Pictures shared throughout social networks reveal hurt individuals on stretchers being reached security.
Video of damaged homes and streets covered with debris have actually likewise been published from the scene.
The earthquake struck about 27 miles from Khost at a depth of 31 miles, according to the USGS.
Intense shaking was felt over 310 miles away from the quake’s epicentre.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre estimate it was felt by millions of people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has offered his condolences in a statement today, saying his nation will provide help to the Afghan people.
People in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, as well as Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, reported experiencing shaking.
‘Strong and long jolts,’ one witness posted online from Kabul.
‘It was strong,’ another witness posted from Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan.
Rescue efforts are already underway but due to the Taliban takeover of the country last year, it is unclear how relief and aid will be distributed following the disaster.
Residents of the disaster-torn country have already faced grinding poverty over the winter period after the country’s economy collapsed.
Thousands of US and UK troops had pulled out of the South Asian country in August after a 20-year-long military mission, paving the way for the violent takeover from the Taliban.
Mohammad Nassim Haqqani, the head of the Taliban administration’s catastrophe management authority, stated: ‘According to our primary information the earthquake had casualties and damage, we are investigating.’
‘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 representative for the Taliban federal government, independently composed onTwitter
.
‘We urge all aid agencies to send teams to the area immediately to prevent further catastrophe.’
In 2015, a significant earthquake that struck the nation’s northeast eliminated over 200 individuals in Afghanistan and surrounding northernPakistan
.
A comparable 6.1 earthquake in 2002 eliminated about 1,000 individuals in northernAfghanistan
.
And in 1998, a 6.1-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tremblings in Afghanistan’s remote northeast eliminated a minimum of 4,500 individuals.
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