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At the very least 280 individuals have been killed after a 6.1 magnitude earthquake in southeastern Afghanistan, officers have mentioned.
The quake struck about 27 miles (44km) from town of Khost, near the nation’s border with Pakistan, and was at a depth of 31.6 miles (51km), in keeping with the US Geological Survey.
Afghanistan’s state-run information company Bakhtar reported at the least 280 individuals had been killed.
Nearly all of the fatalities had been within the province of Paktika, the place 255 individuals had been killed and greater than 500 injured, mentioned inside ministry official Salahuddin Ayubi.
In Khost province, 25 individuals had been killed and 90 taken to hospital, he mentioned.
“The demise toll is more likely to rise as a few of the villages are in distant areas within the mountains and it’ll take a while to gather particulars,” he added.
Footage from Paktika province close to the Pakistan border confirmed victims being carried into helicopters to be airlifted from the world.
Bakhtar posted pictures of destroyed stone homes and the injured being handled in hospital.
Its director-general, Abdul Wahid Rayan, wrote on Twitter that 90 houses had been destroyed within the province of Paktika and dozens of individuals are believed to be trapped below the rubble.
“A extreme earthquake shook 4 districts of Paktika province, killing and injuring tons of of our countrymen and destroying dozens of homes,” tweeted Bilal Karimi, a deputy spokesman for the Taliban authorities.
“We urge all help businesses to ship groups to the world instantly to forestall additional disaster.”
Pic: Afghan authorities information company
It comes amid an financial and humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan for the reason that Taliban took management in August final yr and the withdrawal of US-led worldwide forces after twenty years of battle.
Its already fragile financial system, closely depending on help, has been crippled by Western sanctions on its banking sector and billions of cuts in help – in response to the Taliban takeover.
Tremors had been felt over a variety of round 310 miles (500km) by about 119 million individuals in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) mentioned in a tweet.
They prolonged to the Afghan capital Kabul, in addition to Islamabad in Pakistan, in keeping with witness accounts posted on the EMSC web site and by Twitter customers.
“Sturdy and lengthy jolts,” one witness from Kabul wrote on the EMSC web site. “It was robust,” mentioned one other witness from Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan.
There have been no instant experiences of injury or casualties in Pakistan.
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