Deadliest Afghanistan Earthquake in the Last 2 Decades, 920 People Died

Kapanlagi.com - A major earthquake shook Afghanistan in the early hours of Wednesday, June 22, 2022. The earthquake was reported to have a magnitude of 6.1 with a shallow depth of 51 km from the epicenter.

"A strong earthquake has killed at least 920 people and injured hundreds more in Afghanistan," said Taliban officials as quoted by the BBC via Liputan6.com on Tuesday (22/6).

Images show landslides and mud-built houses in the eastern province of Paktika, where rescuers are struggling to care for the injured. In remote areas, helicopters have transported victims to hospitals.

Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada said hundreds of houses had been destroyed and the death toll was likely to rise. Deputy Minister for Disaster Management Sharafuddin Muslim said at a press conference that at least 920 people had died and 600 others were injured, making it the deadliest earthquake in Afghanistan in two decades.

The latest earthquake in Afghanistan struck about 44 km (27 miles) from the southeastern city of Khost shortly after 01:30 local time (21:00 Tuesday GMT), when many people were asleep inside their homes. 

"Every road you pass, you hear people mourning the death of their loved ones. Houses are destroyed," said a local journalist in Paktika province, which was hit by a severe natural disaster, to the BBC.

Earthquakes tend to cause significant damage in Afghanistan, where housing in many rural areas is unstable or poorly built.

1. Communication Obstacles

Credit: Bakhtar News Agency, managed by the Afghan government

Communication after the earthquake is difficult due to damage to mobile phone towers and the number of casualties could still increase, another local journalist in the area told the BBC.

"Many people are unaware of news about their relatives because their phones are not working," they said. "My brother and his family died, and I only found out after hours. Many villages have been destroyed by the earthquake."

Taliban officials have called on aid agencies to rush to the affected areas in the east of the country.

Decades of conflict have made it difficult for the poor country to improve its protection against earthquakes and other natural disasters - although aid agencies have made efforts to strengthen some buildings over the years.

Even before the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan's emergency services were expanded to deal with natural disasters - with only a few planes and helicopters available for rescuers.

Speaking to the BBC, a doctor from one of the worst-hit districts in Paktika province said medical workers were among the victims.

"We didn't have enough people and facilities before the earthquake, and now the earthquake has damaged what little we had," they said. "I don't know how many of our colleagues are still alive."

Most of the victims so far are in the Gayan and Barmal districts of Paktika, a local doctor told the BBC. Local media site Etilaat-e Roz reported that the entire village of Gayan had been destroyed.

2. Earthquake Vibrations Felt as Far as Pakistan and India

Credit: Bakhtar News Agency, managed by the Afghan government

Tremors from the earthquake were also felt over 500 km away in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

Eyewitnesses reported feeling the earthquake in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. However, there have been no immediate reports of casualties or significant damage in Pakistan, according to BBC Urdu.

Afghanistan is vulnerable to earthquakes as it is located in a tectonically active region, through a number of fault lines including the Chaman fault, the Hari Rud fault, the Central Badakhshan fault, and the Darvaz fault.

The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.1 at a depth of around 51 km, according to seismologists.

In the past 10 years, more than 7,000 people have died in earthquakes in the country, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported. There are an average of 560 deaths per year due to earthquakes.

3. 90 Houses Destroyed

Credit: Bakhtar News Agency, managed by the Afghan government

The earthquake occurred on Wednesday morning local time, with the epicenter near the city of Khost, about 95 miles (150 km) south of Kabul, the US Geological Survey reported.

Earlier, Abdul Wahid Rayan, director general of the Bakthar news agency, said the affected area was in mountainous terrain, meaning rescue work was being carried out by helicopter. “Afghanistan lacks helicopters and difficult-to-reach areas make relief work difficult,” said Abdul Wahid Rayan.

Rayan said 90 houses had been destroyed in Gayan, a district in Paktika province.

"Strong and long-lasting tremors” were felt in Kabul, according to a resident in a post on the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) website.

Photos in Afghan media and social media showed houses reduced to rubble.

Deaths were also reported in the eastern provinces of Khost and Nangarhar, said Mohammad Nassim Haqqani, head of the Afghan National Disaster Management Authority.

Bakhtar News Agency reported that local officials were concerned the death toll could rise if the central government did not provide emergency aid.

(kpl/ums)