Powerful earthquake kills at least 20 people in northern Afghanistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — At least 20 people have been killed and hundreds more injured in Afghanistan after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck the northern part of the country early Monday, the ruling Taliban said.

The death toll could rise as rescue teams arrive and assess the damage, said Sharafat Zaman, a spokesperson for the health ministry, adding that at least 320 people were injured.

The 6.3-magnitude quake struck near one of Afghanistan’s largest cities, Mazar-e-Sharif, at a depth of around 17 miles just before 1 a.m. local time (3:30 p.m. ET Sunday), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The U.S.G.S. issued an orange alert under its automated system for assessing the impact of earthquakes, which means “significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread.” Past events with the same alert level “required a regional or national level response,” it said.

Over 500,000 people live in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province.

The quake also affected the northern provinces of Samangan and Baghlan, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on X.

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Rescuers were seen pulling out civilians, including a child, from under collapsed mud-brick homes using their bare hands in a video posted by Afghanistan’s national defense ministry.

The United Nations in Afghanistan said on X that its teams were on the ground to deliver aid.

“We stand with the affected communities and will provide necessary support,” it said.

Afghanistan, which lies along several fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian plates meet, is especially vulnerable to earthquakes.

More than 2,200 people were killed when a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan on Aug. 31. The U.N. has said that a shortage of international aid as well as Taliban restrictions on its female staff have hampered the delivery of aid.

The country, which is one of the world’s poorest, was still reeling from a 6.3-magnitude earthquake and aftershocks in 2023 that the U.N. estimated killed about 1,500 people in the western province of Herat, and a magnitude 6 earthquake that killed about 1,000 people in eastern Afghanistan in 2022.

The earthquake on Monday is the fourth major tremor in Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces withdrew from the country in 2021.

Mushtaq Yusufzai reported from Peshawar, and Mithil Aggarwal reported from Hong Kong.