KABUL – At least 622 people died and more than 1,500 sustained injuries following a 6.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Afghanistan on Sunday, a spokesperson for the Taliban-run interior ministry confirmed.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences, the devastating earthquake hit the east of the country near the Pakistan border at 11.47pm local time.
Health authorities in the capital Kabul said the number of victims could change as they worked to reach remote areas.
The quake epicenter was 17 miles (27km) away from Jalalabad, the country’s fifth-largest city in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, BBC reported.
The earthquake has also affected the Kunar and Laghman provinces, and was felt 140km (87 miles) away in the country’s capital Kabul.
Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Afghanistan on October 7, 2023, followed by strong aftershocks. The Taliban government estimated at least 4,000 people perished.
