Hundreds Feared Dead In Afgan Powerful Earthquake

Hundreds of people are feared dead with many more injured after a powerful earthquake hit western Afghanistan, near the Iranian border.

The 6.3 magnitude quake devastated several villages about 40km (25 miles) from the city of Herat on Saturday.

Many buildings were damaged, trapping people under rubble and there were at least three powerful aftershocks.

Survivors described their terror as office buildings first shook – and then collapsed around them.

The earthquake struck at around 11:00 local time (06:30 GMT) on Saturday.

We were in our offices and suddenly the building started shaking. Wall plaster started to fall and the walls got cracks, some walls and parts of the building collapsed.” Herat resident Bashir Ahmad told AFP news agency.

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“I am not able to contact my family… I am too worried and scared, it was horrifying,” he added.

There are conflicting reports of the number of dead. The director of Herat Provincial Hospital told the BBC at least 255 people had been killed and nearly 500 injured. Other estimates put the number of victims much higher.

Earlier on Saturday, the province’s disaster management chief Mosa Ashari told reporters that “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.”

Footage from Herat Central Hospital showed casualties linked up to intravenous drips being treated outside the main building – a sign of the sudden and overwhelming demand for emergency treatment.

Other pictures show scenes of devastation in Herat’s Injil district where rubble blocked roads, hampering rescue efforts.

“The situation was very horrible, I have never experienced such a thing,” student Idrees Arsala told AFP. He was the last to safely evacuate his classroom after the quakes began.

Herat is located 120km (75 miles) east of the Iranian border and is considered to be the cultural capital of Afghanistan. An estimated 1.9 million people are believed to be living in the province.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes – especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range as it lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

In June last year, the province of Paktika was hit by a 5.9 magnitude quake which killed more than 1,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless

BBC