At least 20 killed and dozens more feared dead in Afghanistan quake » Capital News

KABUL, Sept 1 – A magnitude 6.0 earthquake has struck eastern Afghanistan at a relatively shallow depth of 8km.

Officials tell the BBC that at least 20 people have been killed and more than 100 are being treated at hospitals for injuries.

Dozens of houses are “under rubble”, say multiple sources from the Taliban government, and it is feared that the death toll could rise.

Taliban government officials have urged humanitarian organisations to aid the rescue effort in remote mountainous areas – some are only accessible by air due to landslides and flooding.

The quake has shaken buildings from Kabul to Pakistan’s capital Islamabad – which is more than 300km (186 miles) away.

The US Geological Survey (USGS), a governmental department which monitors earthquakes, suggests hundreds of people could be killed in this quake.

Modelling on its website estimates that “significant casualties are likely” as the disaster is potentially “widespread”.

The USGS notes that previous earthquakes in the region at the same alert level have required a regional or national level response.

The earthquake’s epicentre was 27km away from Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province and Afghanistan’s fifth-largest city.

The quake came after Nangarhar province was hit by flooding between Friday and Saturday, which devastated properties and killed five people, according to authorities.

Tremors were felt 200km away in Kabul, as well as nearly 400km away in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, AFP reported.

Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, which sits on major fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.