CNN
—
The loss of life toll from a robust earthquake that struck northeast Afghanistan on Tuesday might rise a lot greater, authorities warned Wednesday, after tremors had been felt in a number of main Pakistani cities and as distant because the Indian capital New Delhi.
At the very least 13 folks have been confirmed useless to date after the 6.5-magnitude quake despatched residents fleeing from their houses in cities throughout northern Afghanistan and Pakistan, because it broken buildings and triggered landslides.
The epicenter registered 40 kilometers (24 miles) southeast of the Afghan city of Jurm within the Hindu Kush mountain vary at 187.6 kilometers (116 miles) deep, america Geological Survey reported.
In Afghanistan, no less than 4 folks had been killed and 70 others injured in affected areas throughout the nation, in response to Sharafat Zaman Amar, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Well being.
However the variety of fatalities could climb as search and rescue groups attain extra affected villages, mentioned Shafiullah Rahimi, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Catastrophe Administration. Among the districts hit by the quake are extraordinarily distant and don’t have mobile phone service, Rahimi added.
In Pakistan, no less than 9 folks died – together with two kids – as homes and different buildings collapsed within the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in response to the Provincial Catastrophe Administration Authority (PDMA). At the very least 44 others had been injured within the province.
Noor Wali, a driver in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Decrease Dir mentioned he was consuming at a restaurant when the tremors began.
“One wall of the restaurant fell in, we ran to avoid wasting our lives. Folks had been screaming,” he mentioned. “I used to be near the mountain, felt like the entire mountain would slide into us, folks had been calling out for Allah.”
Photographs from Saidu Sharif, a city in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, present ambulances bringing quake victims to hospital as crowds gathered outdoors.
Ensuing landslides additionally blocked roads within the northern Pakistani metropolis of Abbotabad, in response to Bilal Faizi, spokesperson for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial rescue providers.
Within the Afghan capital Kabul, Roheen, 28, mentioned he spent the night time outdoors within the chilly together with his household and neighbors within the car parking zone of their constructing complicated.
“We had been watching TV at residence when the earthquake occurred. The primary and second jolts weren’t too unhealthy, however the third one was so sturdy that our dishes began falling from the kitchen cupboards and our TV fell from the wall,” he mentioned.
“I all of a sudden remembered the earthquake in Turkey and thought that our condo would fall down on us if we don’t act shortly.”
On February 6, a large 7.8 magnitude quake struck Turkey, near the Syrian border, killing greater than 50,000 folks and sending lethal aftershocks reverberating by means of the area.
One other Kabul resident, Amanuddin, 42, mentioned they’re nonetheless scared to return inside.
“The earthquakes in Syria and Turkey haven’t solely made us extra scared, but additionally confirmed that the aftershocks will be extra harmful and lethal due to this fact, we didn’t wish to take any threat,” he informed CNN. “I don’t know whether or not it’s secure to return or not. I heard from a number of folks right here that there have been cracks of their flats brought on by the earthquake.”
Although the shock was deep, sturdy tremors had been felt throughout the area. A CNN crew on the bottom felt sustained shaking within the Pakistani capital of Islamabad and other people had been seen evacuating their houses as timber shook. Some Islamabad residents mentioned cracks had appeared within the partitions of their houses.
Eyewitnesses in Lahore informed CNN tremors had been additionally felt there, whereas some additionally felt the bottom shake in New Delhi and in Srinagar – the most important metropolis in Indian-administered Kashmir – the place one resident mentioned he might see his home shaking as neighbors evacuated their houses.
The earthquake comes lower than a 12 months after a lethal quake hit Afghanistan’s east in June 2022, killing greater than 1,000 folks and wounding many extra, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian disaster within the nation.
Afghanistan has an extended historical past of earthquakes, lots of which occur within the mountainous Hindu Kush area that borders Pakistan.
This story has been up to date to appropriate the magnitude of the earthquake.
