At Least Nine Killed as Powerful Earthquake Strikes Northern Afghanistan

A powerful earthquake has claimed the lives of at least nine people in northern Afghanistan, authorities confirmed on Monday, only months after another devastating tremor left the nation struggling to recover.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck overnight at a depth of 28 kilometres (17 miles), with its epicentre located near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Four fatalities were reported in Balkh province, where Mazar-i-Sharif serves as the capital, said Kamal Khan Zadran, a spokesman for the provincial health department. He added that around 120 injured individuals were being treated at the local hospital.

In neighbouring Samangan province, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) spokesman Mohammadullah Hamad reported that five people had been killed and 143 others wounded. “Most of the injured have returned home after receiving treatment,” he said in a statement.

Afghanistan’s mountainous terrain and poor communication networks have long hampered rapid disaster responses, often delaying efforts by hours or even days as authorities struggle to reach remote villages and assess the full extent of the damage.

The tremor sent residents of Mazar-i-Sharif, one of northern Afghanistan’s largest cities, fleeing into the streets in fear that their homes might collapse, an AFP correspondent observed. Shaking was also felt some 420 kilometres (260 miles) to the south in the capital, Kabul.

The earthquake marks the latest in a series of natural disasters to strike the Taliban-led government, which has faced three major deadly quakes since taking control of Afghanistan in 2021. This has occurred amid a sharp decline in foreign aid, which once sustained much of the country’s fragile economy.

In August, a shallow 6.0-magnitude quake in eastern Afghanistan levelled entire mountainside villages, killing more than 2,200 people. Major tremors in Herat province near the Iranian border in 2023, and in Nangarhar province in 2022, also claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed thousands of homes.

The United Nations and aid organisations have repeatedly warned that hunger is on the rise across Afghanistan. The isolated country continues to face a worsening humanitarian crisis fuelled by prolonged drought, strict economic restrictions on its banking system, and the forced return of millions of Afghan migrants from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.

Earthquakes are frequent in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates collide. Many homes in the war-torn, predominantly rural nation are poorly constructed, leaving them extremely vulnerable to seismic activity. In many regions, it can take hours or even days to reach remote villages via steep, rugged roads—areas often cut off from assistance during natural disasters or harsh weather.