Strong earthquake in Afghanistan

Yesterday (April 3), a fairly strong earthquake occurred in northeast Afghanistan, shaking both Pakistan and India, causing hundreds of people to rush out of the house.

According to the US seismic research agency, the 6.2-magnitude strong earthquake is near the town of Faizabad at 03:00 GMT. There is no information about the number of casualties. People in the town, which is the capital of Badakshan province, said they may not have seen any damage."There are a lot of houses around the house, but they are not destroyed ," said Governor Badakshan Abdul Majid.

He has no reports of casualties in the city, but also insists that it takes several hours to get full statistics from areas far from the center of the province. "The buildings were shaking so hard and we ran out ," said Basanta Lamsal, a branch project manager of a charity group in the town. "The earthquake is quite strong, lasting about 30 seconds."

(Photo: AFP) In Kabul about 260 km away, hundreds of people fled their homes for fear of collapsing apartments. "Everyone is out on the street," said one resident. The earthquake also scared people in the city of Jalalabad, and people left home when they felt the tremor.

In Pakistan, the quake also rocked the capital Islamabad and the northwest region. No information on damage figures yet. On October 8, 2005, in northwest Pakistan, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake killed more than 76,000 people.

In Kashmir, today's earthquake left people on the streets in horrified fear when they recalled the October 2005 earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people. "It's not very big, but they all ran out of the house ," said Hajra Begum, a housewife who lives in Srinagar (Kashmir).

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the area around the Hindu Kush Range. In 2002 there happened a 7.6-magnitude earthquake that caused many villages to be destroyed, more than 1,000 people died.

On Monday, the magnitude 8 earthquake struck the undersea in the South Pacific, creating a tsunami that struck the west coast of the Solomon Islands. All villages around the main town of Gizo were razed. Most of the dead victims were residents of Gizo - a fishing town and a diving center only 45km from the earthquake center. Up to now, 24 people have died, 5,400 people have lost their homes, 916 houses have been destroyed.

United Mail