Updated 12 minutes ago
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Image source, Getty Images
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A powerful earthquake in Paktika province has left at least 1,000 people dead and many injured, said officials from the Taliban, Afghanistan’s ruling group.
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The head of information for Paktika province, Mohammad Amin Hazifi, told the BBC that so far the death toll had reached 1,000 people and more than 1,500 injured.
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UN aid agencies said they were trying to send emergency tents and food as quickly as possible.
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Hundreds of houses made of dirt were destroyed. Correspondents say hundreds of people who have lost their homes are now facing storms and heavy rains, complicating relief efforts.
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The head of the Health Service, Hikmatullah Esmat, told the BBC that the number of victims was likely to rise as people’s houses were made of mud.
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“Houses are collapsing. In Afghanistan there are no concrete buildings. The majority of the victims were injured by falling houses. The number of dead and injured continues to grow,” he said.
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Image source, Afghanistan Ministry of Information
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Photos shared on social media showed injured people being carried on stretchers. A number of houses looked destroyed.
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The quake struck about 44 km southeast of the city of Khost.
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The quake was felt up to 500km from the epicenter, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre, as quoted by Reuters.
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Image source, AFGHAN GOVERNMENT NEWS AGENCY
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The SAR team has arrived in Paktika Province by helicopter.
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A local resident, Fatima, said the quake occurred around midnight.
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“The kids and I screamed. One of our rooms was destroyed. The neighbors screamed and we could see their rooms,” she said.
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Shocks are felt in the capital
Another resident in Paktika, Faisal, said his neighbors’ houses were completely destroyed.
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“When we got there, we saw a lot of dead and injured people. They sent us to the hospital. I also saw a lot of bodies,” said Faisal.
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Image source, Replying to @AtHam 24992157
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The photos show the damage in Paktika.
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Witnesses reported that the tremors of the earthquake were felt in the Afghan capital, Kabul, as well as the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
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However, so far there have been no reports of casualties in Kabul or Islamabad, and the quake caused almost no damage there, according to BBC Urdu.
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Image source, AFGHAN GOVERNMENT NEWS AGENCY
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Photo of a collapsed house building reported from the epicenter in Paktika Province, Afghanistan.
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“Last night there was a severe earthquake in four districts in Paktika province, which killed and injured hundreds of our citizens and destroyed dozens of houses,” said government spokesman Bilal Karimi, in a tweet on Twitter. previously.
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“We ask all aid agencies to send teams to the area as soon as possible to prevent further disasters.”
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The earthquake – which struck in the early hours of the morning while many people were sleeping – was a magnitude 6.1 quake at a depth of about 51 km, according to the US Geological Survey.
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Earthquakes can cause significant damage in Afghanistan, particularly in many rural areas where many residential buildings are unstable.
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Afghanistan is also prone to earthquakes, as it lies in a seismically active region, via a number of fault lines, including the Chaman fault, Hari Rud fault, Central Badakhshan fault and Darvaz fault.
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