A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake has struck northern Afghanistan, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), two months after a quake killed thousands of people in the impoverished nation’s east.
The USGS said overnight Sunday into Monday that the quake hit at a revised depth of 28km (17 miles) in Kholm, near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in the Hindu Kush region, at 12:59 am local time (20:29 GMT). It was felt by correspondents with the AFP news agency based in the capital Kabul.
The agency had initially given the depth as 10km (6 miles).
Local authorities broadcast emergency telephone numbers for people to call, but did not immediately report any deaths or injuries.
In Mazar-i-Sharif, many people ran into the street in the middle of the night, fearing their homes might collapse, an AFP correspondent observed.
The Taliban authorities have had to deal with several major quakes since returning to power in 2021, including one in 2023 in the western Herat region on the border with Iran that killed more than 1,500 people and destroyed more than 63,000 homes.
A shallow 6.0-magnitude quake struck this year on August 31 in the country’s east, killing more than 2,200 people – the deadliest tremor in recent Afghan history.
