Earthquake in northern Afghanistan kills at least 13 in Pakistan
According to Xinhua News Agency, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurred in northern Afghanistan at night on the 21st, affecting many places in Pakistan and felt in many other countries. According to new news released by both countries, the earthquake has killed at least 13 people and injured hundreds in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to the United States Geological Survey Earthquake Information Network, the earthquake occurred at 21:17 Kabul time on the 21st (0:47 Beijing time on the 22nd), and the epicenter was 40 kilometers southeast of Julm in Province Badakhshan, Afghanistan at a focal depth of 187.6 km.
Officials from the Afghan interim government’s Ministry of Public Health said the earthquake killed at least four people in Afghanistan. Mahziddin Ahmadi, an official with the Badakhshan Provincial Information Department, told Reuters that the number of casualties caused by the earthquake in the province was being verified. Some remote mountain villages have no Internet or telephone access, making it difficult to contact them. The interim government’s Ministry of Public Health expects more casualties. A spokesman said most hospitals and clinics in the country were on hand to help.
The earthquake hit several parts of neighboring Pakistan. According to multiple media reports, in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, cracks appeared in the walls of several apartments, and a large number of people fled from residential and office buildings to avoid danger.
Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for Pakistan’s emergency services, said that at least nine people were killed after roofs collapsed in several parts of the northwest of the country. According to Agence France-Presse, at least 180 people were injured in the earthquake in Khyber-Pashtun province and sent to hospital for treatment. Fortunately, most of them were fine.
The Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center said that around 285 million people together felt the earthquake in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.
Source: Xinhua News Agency Author: Editor: Zheng Haiyun
