At least 15 people have died after several strong earthquakes in Afghanistan. Dozens of other residents of the border province of Herat near Iran were injured, a disaster control spokesman told the German Press Agency.
The Sindajan district was particularly affected. Houses were also damaged. The authorities fear that the number of victims will continue to rise.
In the morning, at least eight earthquakes shook the border region near Iran within a short period of time. The US earthquake monitoring station USGS put the magnitude at values between 4.6 and 6.3. The tremors occurred in the morning northwest of the Afghan border town of Herat, at a shallow depth of around ten kilometers.
The quakes were also felt in neighboring Iran. Residents of the metropolis of Mashhad in Iran, around 300 kilometers from the earthquake zone, said that the walls of houses were shaking. According to Iran’s state media, teams were sent to border areas to inspect possible damage. There were dozens of aftershocks.
Between fear and damage
A resident of the Afghan province of Herat reported the strong tremors: “We fled the buildings,” said the man. “Everyone is out in the open and no one knows what happened to their houses.” More than two million people live in the Afghan border province.
The head of the state news agency in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan wrote in a group of journalists: “Unfortunately, the earthquake left the residents of Herat with a lot of damage. Exact details will be announced later.”
