Tuesday October 27, 2015
Kabul (BNA) A powerful earthquake struck Afghanistan on Monday, shaking the capital Kabul and north eastern provinces, including eastern Nangarhar and killing dozens of people while hundreds of people were reportedly been killed or injured in neighboring Pakistan.
The quake was also felt in New Delhi of India. Initial reports shows the tremors, lasting more than a minute, were felt in Kabul, Faizabad, Jalalabad and other major cities of the quake-prone country. The death toll could climb in coming days because communications were down in much of the rugged Hindu Kush mountain range area where the quake was centered. Reports of deaths had poured in from different areas of both countries by nightfall. Residents of the country’s capital, Kabul, rushed out of their homes and offices as a result of the quake, which around 70 people confirmed injured by the local hospital.
The earthquake was 213 km deep and centered 254 km northeast of Kabul, in the Hindu Kush mountain range of Badakhshan province. In one of the worst incidents, at least 12 girls were killed in a stampede to get out of their Bibi Hajira High School the northeastern province of Takhar. “They fell under the feet of other students,” said Abdul Razaq Zinda, provincial head of the Afghan National Disaster Management Agency, who reported heavy damage in Takhar, Reuters quoted. The U.S. Geological Survey initially measured the quake’s intensity at 7.7 then revised it down to 7.5. Just over a decade ago, a 7.6 magnitude quake in another part of northern Pakistan killed about 75,000 people.
