Magnitude 6.3 earthquake hits Afghanistan: USGS
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- A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck northern Afghanistan overnight Sunday into Monday, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
- The quake’s epicenter was near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in Balkh province, a region frequently hit by seismic activity.
A powerful magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck northern Afghanistan overnight Sunday into Monday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported.
The earthquake, which had a depth of 10 kilometers (six miles), occurred in Khulm, a town near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in Balkh province, according to the U.S. agency.
Tremors Felt Across Region
Residents in distant areas, including the capital, Kabul, felt the tremors, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondents.
Afghanistan is situated at the intersection of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates, making it prone to frequent earthquakes.
History of Strong Seismic Activity
According to Brian Baptie, a seismologist at the British Geological Survey, the northeast of the country has experienced 12 earthquakes with a magnitude exceeding 7.0 since 1900.
The country has been hit by several devastating quakes recently. In late August (the Arabic text refers to a previous year, but uses "late August," so the year is omitted for brevity as per AP style for non-current year events without a date), a magnitude 6 earthquake struck the east of the country, killing more than 2,200 people.
More recently, in October 2023, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake followed by a series of powerful aftershocks hit Herat province in western Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,500 people and the destruction or damage of over 63,000 homes, according to United Nations estimates.
