KABUL: More than 2,400 people were killed in earthquakes in Afghanistan, the Taliban administration said on Sunday, in the deadliest tremors to rock the quake-prone mountainous country in years.
The Saturday quakes in the west of the country hit 35 km northwest of the city of Herat, with one of 6.3 magnitude, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. They were among the world’s deadliest quakes this year, after tremors in Turkey and Syria killed an estimated 50,000 in February.
Janan Sayeeq, spokesman for the ministry of disasters, said the toll had risen to 2,445 dead and over 2,000 were injured.
Sayeeq also said 1,320 houses had been damaged. More than 200 deceased had been brought to various hospitals, said a Herat health department official who identified himself as Dr Danish, adding most of them were women and children.
Food, drinking water, medicine, clothes and tents were urgently needed for rescue and relief, Suhail Shaheen, the head of the Taliban political office in Qatar, said in a message to the media.