Four days after a Temblor that claimed over 2,000 lives, a Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake jolts Western Afghanistan

Four days after the Herat province in western Afghanistan was slammed by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake and eight strong aftershocks, another earthquake, this one of magnitude 6.3, struck the region in the wee hours of Wednesday. approximately the weekend, approximately 2,000 individuals passed away.

The earthquake, which had its epicenter approximately 29 kilometers north of the city of Herat, struck at a shallow depth at roughly 05:10 am local time (00:40 GMT), according to the US Geological Survey and the news agency AFP.

After the earthquake that occurred on Wednesday in the city of Herat, which is home to more than 500,000 people, there were no immediate reports of new fatalities. In the Zenda Jan area of Herat province, at least 11 villages were completely demolished by the earthquakes over the weekend.

According to Afghan media reports, most people in Herat spend their evenings in tents outside out of concern about aftershocks after the weekend earthquakes.

As relief started to arrive, volunteers and rescuers began digging with their own hands in a desperate search for earthquake survivors. At least 12,000 people, according to the UN, have been impacted.

According to Mullah Janan Sayeq, the disaster management ministry’s spokesperson, “we can’t give exact numbers for dead and wounded as it is in flux.”

Because of their poor connections with foreign assistance organizations, Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership finds it difficult to distribute supplies and offer shelter on a significant scale to individuals who have been forced to flee.

The country is routinely struck by fatal earthquakes, but the calamity over the weekend was the deadliest to batter the post-war nation in more than 25 years, according to a report from news agency AFP.

In rural Afghanistan, most homes are composed of mud and supported by wooden poles; minimal steel or concrete reinforcement is used. Extended families with several generations cohabiting implies that whole towns might be destroyed by a significant earthquake.

Afghanistan is suffering from a severe humanitarian catastrophe brought on by the broad withdrawal of international help, which has become worse since the Taliban took back control. Around 1.9 million people live in the Herat province, which borders Iran, and the rural areas there are also experiencing a protracted drought.