Afghanistan is often hit by earthquakes (Representational)
Herat, Afghanistan:
At least 26 people were killed in an earthquake that struck western Afghanistan on Monday. An official gave this information.
Provincial spokesman Baz Mohamed Sarvari told AFP that the victims were killed when roofs of their homes collapsed in the Qadis district of the western province of Badghis.
According to the US Geological Survey, the magnitude of the earthquake was 5.3.
“Of the 26 people killed in the quake, five are women and four are children,” Sarvari said. He said four more were injured.
He said the quake also damaged residents of the province’s Mukar district, but details, including casualties, were still not available.
Afghanistan is already in the grip of a humanitarian disaster, worsened by the Taliban’s takeover of the country in August when Western nations blocked access to international aid and assets held abroad.
Kadis is one of the regions worst hit by the devastating drought, which has benefited little from international aid over the past 20 years.
The country is frequently vulnerable to earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which is located near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
The earthquake can cause heavy damage to poorly constructed homes and buildings in Afghanistan.
In 2015, about 280 people were killed when a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake centered in the mountain range ripped through South Asia, with a large number of deaths in Pakistan.
In that disaster, 12 young Afghan girls were crushed to death in a stampede as they tried to escape from their shaking school building.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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