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Third earthquake hits Afghanistan in one week

 

A new earthquake has struck western Afghanistan – several days after two large tremors in the region killed more than 1,000 people.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the magnitude 6.3 quake hit near the city of Herat at a depth of 6.3 kilometers (four miles).

So far there have been no reports of any casualties, according to BBC.

The United Nations children agency, UNICEF said more than 90% of those who died in the earlier quakes were women and children.

According to the report by USGS said the epicentre of the latest tremor was 30km north-west of Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city close to the Iranian border.

Last Saturday’s earthquake hit Zindajan, a rural district some 40 kilometers from Herat.

The tremor saw entire houses, which were too fragile to withstand the quake, reduced to rubble.

Villagers used shovels and bare hands to search for missing people.

Afghanistan has been reeling from an economic crisis since the Taliban takeover in 2021, when aid given directly to the government was stopped.

The country is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, as it lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

In June last year, the province of Paktika was hit by a 5.9 magnitude quake which killed more than 1,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

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