| Event code | GE-ERQ/05505/AFG |
|---|---|
| Main category | Geological Event |
| Sub category | earthquake |
| Event date (UTC) | Sat, 07 Oct 2023 16:25:57 +0000 |
| Last update (UTC) | Fri, 13 Oct 2023 05:38:17 +0000 |
| Continent | Asia |
|---|---|
| Country | Afghanistan |
| Administration area | Province of Hearat |
| Settlement | |
| Exact location | About 55 kilometers Northeast of Herat City |
| Open Location Code: | 8J63GX8J+MR |
| Size of affected area | County-level |
| Additional events |
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| Urgency | Past |
|---|---|
| Certainty | Observed |
| Severity | Extreme |
| Category | Geo |
At least 15 people have been killed, 78 injured and infrastructure damaged in northwestern Afghanistan following a magnitude-6.3 earthquake and several aftershocks early Oct. 7. Telecommunication disruptions have also been reported in the area.
The epicenter was located near Herat. Authorities may update casualty and damage reports in the coming hours. Disruptions to telecommunications, public transport, and business operations are likely in the worst-affected areas in the coming days as emergency services respond to the incident. Plan accordingly for aftershocks. Consider vacating multistory buildings if operating in affected areas until authorities confirm their structural integrity. Allow additional time for air and road travel, as aftershocks may prompt brief disruptions. Seek updated information on road conditions before driving in hilly areas in the affected region due to potential landslides.
More than 90 percent of the people killed by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in western Afghanistan last weekend were women and children, U.N. officials reported Thursday. Taliban officials said Saturday’s earthquake killed more than 2,000 people of all ages and genders across Herat province. The epicenter was in the Zenda Jan district, where 1,294 people died, 1,688 were injured and every home was destroyed, according to U.N. figures. Women and children were more likely to have been at home when the quake struck in the morning, said Siddig Ibrahim, the chief of the UNICEF field office in Herat, said. “When the first earthquake hit, people thought it was an explosion, and they ran into their homes,” he said. Hundreds of people, mostly women, remain missing in Zenda Jan. The Afghanistan representative for the United Nations Population Fund, Jaime Nadal, said there would have been no “gender dimension” to the death toll if the quake had happened at night. “At that time of the day, men were out in the field,” Nadal told The Associated Press. “Many men migrate to Iran for work. The women were at home doing the chores and looking after the children. They found themselves trapped under the rubble. There was clearly a gender dimension.” The initial quake, numerous aftershocks, and a second 6.3-magnitude quake on Wednesday flattened entire villages, destroying hundreds of mud-brick homes that could not withstand such force. Schools, health clinics, and other village facilities also collapsed. The Norwegian Refugee Council described the devastation as enormous. “Early reports from our teams are that many of those who lost their lives were small children who were crushed or suffocated after buildings collapsed on them,” the council said. The maternity hospital in Herat province has cracks that make the structure unsafe. The U.N. Population Fund has provided tents so pregnant women have somewhere to stay and receive care, Nadal said.
Many people inside and outside the provincial capital are still sleeping outside, even as temperatures drop. The disproportionate impact of the quake on women has left children without mothers, their primary caregivers, raising questions about who will raise them or how to reunite them with fathers who might be out of the province or Afghanistan. Aid officials say orphanages are non-existent or rare, meaning children who have lost one or both parents are likely to be taken in by surviving relatives or community members. Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, where there are a number of fault lines and frequent movement among three nearby tectonic plates. Women may be at risk of not getting information on earthquake preparedness because of Taliban edicts curtailing their mobility and rights, and restrictions imposed on female humanitarian workers, a U.N. report has warned. Authorities have barred girls from school beyond sixth grade and stopped women from working at nongovernmental groups, although there are exceptions for some sectors like health care. The Taliban also says that women cannot travel long distances without male chaperones. Aid agencies say their female Afghan staff members are “for now” working freely in Herat and reaching women and girls affected by the earthquake. UNICEF has launched a $20 million appeal to help the estimated 13,000 children and families devastated by the earthquake.
More than 2,000 people were killed by several strong earthquakes that struck western Afghanistan, the Taliban administration said on Sunday (October 8). The tremors hit Saturday morning and were mostly focused in the country’s western region, with many felt in neighboring Iran. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quakes – one of which measured 6.3 magnitude – hit some 35 km northwest of the city of Herat, causing panic in the city. The earthquake and its subsequent, strong aftershocks left 2,053 people dead and 9,240 more injured, a spokesperson for the National Disaster Management Authority said. Several villages in Herat province were completely destroyed, including at least 600 houses, according to the World Health Organization. Hundreds of civilians have been buried under the debris, with the Taliban government calling for urgent help. “We ask our wealthy compatriots to give any possible cooperation and help to our afflicted brothers,” the Taliban said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Authorities expected the number of casualties to rise, as the search operation for those under the rubble continues. The earthquake is among the worst to have hit Afghanistan in decades. However, the country, which lies in a region where the Arabian, Indian, and Eurasian plates meet, is no stranger to quakes. Decades of conflict have also left the country with poorly built structures, making it all the more vulnerable to disasters.
Two strong earthquakes have shaken parts of western Afghanistan - with up to 2,000 feared dead and many injured. It's one of the deadliest earthquakes to strike the country in two decades. A Taliban government spokesman said Sunday that the death toll from strong earthquakes that shook Herat in western Afghanistan has risen to over 2,000. Abdul Wahid Rayan, spokesman at the Ministry of Information and Culture, said the death toll is higher than originally reported. About six villages have been destroyed, and hundreds of civilians have been buried under the debris, he said while calling for urgent help. Earlier, Mosa Ashari, the disaster management chief of the province of Herat had said: "So far more than 1,000 injured women, children, and elderly citizens have been included in our records, and about 120 people have lost their lives". Images shared by Afghan journalists showed at least one village reduced to rubble after a series of quakes flattened stone and mud-brick homes in the country's west. Other images showed the dead strewn about, covered out of respect with blankets. They included children. At least five earthquakes hit around noon, Herat city resident Abdul Shakor Samadi told The Associated Press. "All people are out of their homes," Samadi said. "Houses, offices, and shops are all empty and there are fears of more earthquakes. My family and I were inside our home, and I felt the quake." His family began shouting and ran outside, he told the news service. Herat is Afghanistan's third-largest city and is located 75 miles east of the border with Iran. The earthquakes were also felt in Iran's northeastern Razavi Khorasan province. Afghanistan's Taliban government ferried away some of the wounded by helicopter. The United Nations earlier said at least 320 were killed, but later added that number was not verified. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that a pair of earthquakes had a magnitude of 6.3, and they were followed by aftershocks.
| Number of dead: | 2053 person(s) |
|---|---|
| Number of injured: | 9240 person(s) |
| Number of Affected: | 0 person(s) |
| Number of Rescued/evacuated: | 0 person(s) |
| Number of Missing: | 0 person(s) |
| Number of Infected: | 0 person(s) |
| Code2 | AF |
|---|---|
| Code | AFG |
| Name | Afghanistan |
| LocalName | Afganistan/Afqanestan |
| GovernmentForm | Islamic Emirate |
| Continent | Asia |
| Region | Southern and Central Asia |
| SurfaceArea | 652090.00 |
| IndepYear | 1919 |
| Population | 22720000 |
| LifeExpectancy | 45.9 |
| GNP | 5976.00 |
| GNPOld | |
| Capital | 1 |