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Death toll from Pakistan, Afghanistan quake rises to 21

Ten die in Afghanistan and 11 in Pakistan after the magnitude 6.5 earthquake shook South Asian region late on Tuesday

Published: Thu 23 Mar 2023, 6:29 PM

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  • AP

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Residents remove their belongings from inside a damaged a house at Sooch village in Jurm district of Badakhshan Province following an earthquake. — AFP

Residents remove their belongings from inside a damaged a house at Sooch village in Jurm district of Badakhshan Province following an earthquake. — AFP

The death toll from a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that struck much of Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan earlier this week rose to 21 on Thursday, after eight more deaths were reported in remote areas, officials said.

Ten died in Afghanistan and 11 in Pakistan after the temblor rattled this South Asian region late on Tuesday. More than more than 130 people were reported injured when roofs of hundreds of homes collapsed.

Most of the damage was reported in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan.

Shafiullah Rahimi, a Taliban spokesperson for the Ministry of Natural Disaster Management, said the quake killed 10 there and injured 60. He said 800 houses were damaged across Afghanistan.

According to the US Geological Survey, the epicentre of the magnitude 6.5 quake was 40 kilometres south-southeast of the district of Jurm in Afghanistan’s mountainous Hindukush region, bordering Pakistan and Tajikistan. The quake struck 188 kilometres deep below the Earth’s surface.

The region is prone to violent seismic upheavals. A magnitude 7.6 quake in 2005 killed thousands of people in Pakistan and disputed Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan.



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