A powerful earthquake shook eastern Afghanistan, including Kabul, the capital city, on the previous day, as reported by AFP journalists and residents. The earthquake, measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale, struck a mountainous region approximately 130 kilometers (80 miles) northeast of Kabul, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The quake’s epicenter was close to several remote villages and occurred at 5:39 pm (1309 GMT), coinciding with the time when people in the predominantly Muslim country were preparing to break their Ramadan fast. A local resident from the Khenj district near the epicenter, Zilgay Talabi, described the tremor as very intense, lasting nearly 30 seconds, causing fear and panic among the population. Concerns about potential landslides and avalanches were raised following the earthquake, with reports of brief power outages in parts of Kabul and the tremor being felt in Nangarhar province to the east of the capital.
Afghanistan experiences frequent seismic activity, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates converge. Haqmal Saad, a spokesperson for the Panjshir province police, characterized the earthquake as “very strong” and mentioned ongoing efforts to gather information on the ground. Mohibullah Jahid, the head of the Panjshir Natural Disaster Management agency, stated that initial reports indicated minor damages such as wall cracks but no significant structural collapses.
Residents in Bamiyan and Wardak provinces to the west of Kabul also reported feeling the earthquake, while in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, border areas experienced tremors. The seismic event is a reminder of previous devastating earthquakes in the region, such as a 6.0-magnitude quake last year in eastern Afghanistan that claimed over 2,200 lives. The earthquake underscored the vulnerability of poorly constructed homes in rural areas of Afghanistan, a country marked by decades of conflict.
Challenges in communication networks and infrastructure, exacerbated by the rugged terrain of Afghanistan, have historically hindered swift disaster responses, delaying authorities’ ability to assess damages in remote villages for hours or days following such natural disasters.