13 die in Afghan quake; India, Pakistan shake

Thirteen people were killed, dozens injured and scores of mud-brick homes were flattened when a powerful earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, officials said.

The Red Crescent in the worst-hit province of Nangarhar said 12 people were killed there, while one person was confirmed dead in neighbouring Kunar province.

"The number of dead is expected to rise as the search operation is still ongoing," said Nangarhar Red Crescent chief Nagyalay Yusufzai.

He said more than 60 people were hurt in the quake, which sent people rushing from their homes and was felt in the Afghan capital Kabul and in Islamabad in neighbouring Pakistan.

The quake, measured at a magnitude of 5.6 by the US Geological Survey,    struck at 0925 GMT at a depth of 62 kilometres (39 miles).

Its epicentre was 24 kilometres northwest of the Nangarhar provincial capital Jalalabad, near the Pakistani border, the USGS said.

Nangarhar government spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai gave a different figure of nine confirmed dead in his province and said more than 100 were injured.

"There has been widespread damage in some affected villages since most of the houses there are mud-built," he told AFP.

One person was killed and one injured in Kunar and many homes were destroyed, said its spokesman Wasefullah Wasef.

In Kama district outside Jalalabad, people ran from their homes in panic when the tremor was felt, a witness said, describing it as "very powerful".

In a separate natural disaster, flash floods Tuesday in the northern province of Balkh killed at least 11 people and left three missing, said Munir Ahmad Farhad, a provincial government spokesman.

"The floods have also damaged close to a thousand homes as well as hundreds of hectares of farmland," the spokesman said Wednesday.

"The badly affected areas are impoverished villages where most of the homes are mud-built and can be easily damaged when floods come. We are worried as it is raining again now."

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range which lies near the juncture of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

In June 2012 two quakes in the area triggered landslides that killed at least 75 villagers.

Wednesday's tremors came a week after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake centred in Iran affected thousands of people in remote southeastern Pakistan and killed 41 people.

Pakistani victims have staged angry protests, accusing the government of failing to provide adequate relief after hundreds of homes were destroyed or damaged.

EARLIER

An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale has struck Afghanistan earlier today, at 1.25pm UAE time.

The epicentre has been located 11km south of Mehtar Lam, Afghanistan, according to the US Geological Survey, with tremors reported in parts of Pakistan and Northern India.

Thirteen people were killed, dozens injured and scores of mud-brick homes were flattened when a powerful earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, officials said.

The Red Crescent in the worst-hit province of Nangarhar said 12 people were killed there, while one person was confirmed dead in neighbouring Kunar province.

"The number of dead is expected to rise as the search operation is still ongoing," said Nangarhar Red Crescent chief Nagyalay Yusufzai.

He said more than 60 people were hurt in the quake, which sent people rushing from their homes and was felt in the Afghan capital Kabul and in Islamabad in neighbouring Pakistan.

Nangarhar government spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai gave a different figure of nine confirmed dead in his province and said more than 100 were injured.

"There has been widespread damage in some affected villages since most of the houses there are mud-built," he told AFP.

One person was killed and one injured in Kunar and many homes were destroyed, said its spokesman Wasefullah Wasef.

In Kama district outside Jalalabad, people ran from their homes in panic when the tremor was felt, a witness said, describing it as "very powerful".

In a separate natural disaster, flash floods Tuesday in the northern province of Balkh killed at least 11 people and left three missing, said Munir Ahmad Farhad, a provincial government spokesman.

"The floods have also damaged close to a thousand homes as well as hundreds of hectares of farmland," the spokesman said Wednesday.

"The badly affected areas are impoverished villages where most of the homes are mud-built and can be easily damaged when floods come. We are worried as it is raining again now."

Wednesday's tremors came a week after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake centred in Iran affected thousands of people in remote southeastern Pakistan and killed 41 people.

People confirmed feeling the ground shake from as far as Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Swat, while parts of Kashmir, New Delhi and its adjoining region also reported tremors.

The UAE has not been impacted in this latest incident that has seen a high level of seismic activity in the Asian continent these past few weeks.

No damages have been reported thus far, with Pakistan’s Met department placing the earthquake at a 6.2 magnitude, while the USGS stating it measured 5.7 on the Richter scale.

This latest seismic activity comes a week after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Iran that sent shockwaves across the UAE, resulting in buildings being evacuated across the country.

This was followed by the more recent 6.6 magnitude earthquake in southwest China that killed nearly 200 people.

At the time, the National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology, Abu Dhabi confirmed that the UAE felt the impact, which ranged between 4-5 on the Richter scale.

Meanwhile, website World Earthquakes has statistically predicted Iran as the location for an occurrence of high seismic activity for the next 48 hours.

A spokesperson from NCMS said earlier: “We cannot predict whether there will be another earthquake.

“We simply analyse the situation, but getting panicked is not the answer.”

However, aftershocks were not ruled out.

He said: “There is no scheduled time limit of how long we will experience aftershocks after an earthquake. This will continue until the plates are stable again, and [when that will happen] simply cannot be predicted.

“If it happens, people need to remain calm and follow whatever emergency procedures that have been put in place. This is not a time to panic or spread false rumours.”

Online frenzy

The Twitter world went into overdrive, with many users clearly jittery since the fourth incident this month alone in the region.

Rania Butt wrote: “May we be forgiven our sins.”

Anam Rathor said: “This was the fourth earthquake this month. May Allah have mercy on us all.”

Others attempted to lighten up the mood with tweets such as Faraz Ezazi’s who wrote: “6.2 magnitude earthquake felt. Hope it destroys all terrorists bases.”

Jheera Blade wrote: “While neighbours ran out of their homes, mum casually switched the TV on to see the magnitude of the earthquake on Richter scale.”

Sushma Baliga added: “Dear Earth, Personalise your profile from vibrate mode to General mode.  Yours Sincerely, Scared Humans.”

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