An earthquake of magnitude 5.4 shook northeastern Afghanistan on Monday, near the border with Pakistan, Tajikistan and China, and so far there are no reports of casualties.
The quake was centered about 20 miles from Jurm in Badakhshan province, according to the US Geological Survey, and was also felt in neighboring Laghman, Nuristan, Takhar and Kabul provinces.
A rescue team has been dispatched to the area, Badakhshan provincial disaster management director Mohammad Kamgar told EFE.
The epicenter area of the earthquake is in the Afghan Hindu Kush, a highly active seismic zone.
In late June last year, an earthquake of a similar magnitude of 5.9 in the eastern provinces of Paktika and Khost, near Pakistan, killed more than 1,000 people and injured about 1,500, destroying hundreds of homes.
A month later, small quakes measuring 5.1 and 4.3 injured around 30 people in Paktika province, where 70% of homes had been destroyed or damaged in the June quake.
The country also suffered one of the biggest seismic catastrophes in February 1998, in the north of the country, when two earthquakes of magnitude 5.9 and 6 killed around 4,000 people. A few months later, in late May, another magnitude 7 earthquake struck again in the same region, killing some 5,000 people.
Source: TSF
