About two thousand people died after the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that shook the province of Herat, in western Afghanistan, on Saturday, the Taliban government indicated this Sunday in a new report.
About six villages were destroyed and hundreds of civilians were buried under rubble, said Information Ministry spokesman Abdul Wahid Rayan, who appealed for urgent help.
A previous report, also published this Sunday, indicated “more than a thousand” fatalities.
“Unfortunately, the death toll is very high,” Taliban government spokesman Bilal Karimi told Agence France-Presse.
Afghanistan recorded at least seven earthquakes on Saturday. The first, the largest magnitude (6.3 on the Richter scale) occurred at 12:11 local time (four hours more than in Portugal), 14 kilometers deep and 33 kilometers from the city of Zindah Jan, located in the province of Herat.
Four consecutive aftershocks of 5.5 followed; 4.7; 6.3; and 5.9, respectively, in one hour.
The fourth earthquake, also measuring 6.3, was recorded at a depth of about 10 kilometers and about 29 kilometers from Zindah Jan.
Subsequently, the North American seismological service detected two more earthquakes almost an hour later, also in the province of Herat (4.8 and 4.9 degrees, respectively).
The Asian country is very vulnerable to natural disasters as it is located in the Hindu Kush mountain range, an area of great seismic activity and the usual point of origin of telluric movements in the region.
Source: TSF
