Dozens injured, hundreds of houses damaged by quake

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): A strong earthquake rattled parts of Afghanistan, injuring a dozen of people in Nangarhar and damaging 280 houses in Badakhshan, officials said on Saturday.

The 6.3 magnitude quake, with its epicenter in the Ishkashim district of northeastern Badakhshan province, struck at around 11:44pm eastern, northeastern, central and southeastern parts of Afghanistan.

A dozen of wounded people were brought to the Jalalabad Civil Hospital after the temblor, the governor’s spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Ten of the injured were discharged from hospital after being administered first medical aid while the remaining two were admitted, he said, adding most of the wounded were students.

Twenty houses were destroyed, 230 others damaged and 15 livestock killed in the Dupul area of Zibak district, the Badakhshan governor’s spokesman said.

Ahmad Naveen Frotan added 34 houses were damaged in Dasht-i-Rabat area. Teamshave been sent to Zibak, Shaghnan, Ishkashim and Wakhan districts to survey the damage.

Strong shocks were also felt in Kabul and Islamabad, waking sleeping people and driving them from homes.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was at a depth of 126.5 miles (203 km) and centred 51 miles southeast of Faizabad, capital of Badakhshan.

In Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, more than 30 people were injured as houses or walls collapsed in Peshawar. A total of 41 people were taken to hospitals in the city.

On Oct. 26, a magnitude-7.5 quake struck northern Afghanistan and Pakistan, destroying thousands of houses and killing more than 300 people.

At least 115 people were killed and 556 injured in Kunar, Nuristan, Nangarhar, Badakhshan, Takhar and Baghlan and three other provinces, damaging 7630 houses, 20 mosques and nine government buildings.

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