100 injured as fresh quake jolts northwestern Afghanistan

KARACHI - Another powerful earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale jolted northwestern Afghanistan on Sunday, injuring at least 100 people.

The US Geological Survey said the latest quake's epicentre was about 34 kilometre outside Herat, a provincial capital, and eight kilometre below the surface, reported Anadolu Agency.

Local broadcaster Tolo News quoted a local health official, Farhad Afzali, confirming the number of injuries but providing no details on their severity.

There were reports of damage to scores of houses, but they were not immediately confirmed officially.

A statement from Afghanistan's Information Ministry, run by the interim Taliban administration, said the quake shook Herat and adjoining provinces, knocking out electricity in most of the Herat province.

Herat, which borders Iran and is known as the country’s cultural capital, has been hit by a series of earthquakes over the past week.

Powerful earthquakes on Oct 7 flattened villages and killed over 2,000 people, apart from injuring thousands in the region, in one of the worst quakes seen in the country in recent years.

More than 90 per cent of the people killed in last week’s quake were women and children, the head of Unicef’s field office in Herat, Siddig Ibrahim, said on Thursday.

Most of the men were away working in the fields or elsewhere, leaving women and children at home when buildings collapsed, he explained. - BERNAMA-ANADOLU