Why was the Afghanistan earthquake below 6 degrees but more than 1500 people died?

The earthquake on June 22 in Afghanistan had a very large death toll, up to more than 1500, due to its shallow epicenter, taking place at night and the fragile infrastructure in the area.

The June 22 disaster was the deadliest earthquake in Afghanistan since 2002. The hardest hit area was Paktika province, 44 kilometers southeast of Khost city, close to the border with Pakistan, according to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. US Geological Survey (USGS).

Meanwhile, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) said people in Pakistan and India could also feel the shaking, but did not record damage or casualties in Pakistan.

Man sitting next to rubble after earthquake.

According to Reuters, the EMSC gave the quake a magnitude of 6.1, while the USGC gave a number of 5.9.

If according to USGC data, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake is considered moderately strong. An average of 1,300 earthquakes of similar magnitude occur around the world each year.

The New York Times reports that there are few events that attract much attention as well as have a large number of casualties. Meanwhile, the death toll in Afghanistan has now surpassed 1,000 and is expected to rise after the end of the search and rescue operation.

In addition to the more than 1,000 people killed, officials reported about 1,500 others were injured. In addition, at least 2,000 houses were destroyed. According to the United Nations representative in Afghanistan, an average house has 7-8 people living together.

Nightmare returns after 20 years

According to experts, the epicenter of the earthquake on June 22 in Afghanistan was about 10 km deep. According to the USGS, earthquakes with an epicenter at a depth of less than 70 km are defined as shallow epicenters. Earthquakes with shallow epicenters usually cause more damage than deep ones, according to ABC News.

Najibullah Sadid, an Afghanistan water resources management expert, said the quake coincides with the region's heavy rains, leaving traditional houses - plastered with mud and natural materials - vulnerable to damage. harmful.

In addition, the timing of the earthquake was at night, combined with a depth of the epicenter of 10 kilometers, resulting in a high number of casualties, according to Sadid.

This is also the opinion of Mohammad Almas, head of the aid charity Qamar. He thinks the death toll will be even higher, as the quake struck at night when people were asleep in their homes and the affected areas were far from hospitals.

Location of the June 22 earthquake on the map. (Graphic: BBC).

The areas affected by the earthquake are impoverished and vulnerable mountainous areas. In Paktika - one of the poorest rural areas in the country, many people live in houses made of earth and clay.

"We were all sleeping at home, and then the room fell on our heads," said Gul Faraz, whose wife and child are being treated at a hospital in Paktika. family was killed.

"All the houses in the area were destroyed, not one, but the whole house in the area," he added.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes due to its proximity to the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. In the past, many earthquakes have occurred in the Hindu Kush mountains bordering Pakistan.

More than 1,000 people died in 2002 after two earthquakes in the Nahrin region, northwest Afghanistan. According to records from the National Center for Environmental Information, a strong earthquake hit the same area in 1998, killing 4,700 people.

In 2015, an earthquake rocked South Asia, killing more than 300 people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

What are the difficulties in the rescue work?

The UN's humanitarian office said it was deploying medical teams and providing supplies to provide rapid support to Afghanistan.

To reach Paktika, rescuers had to go through dense forests, hills and many places that could only follow dirt roads. Not only that, the rescue operation was further hampered by heavy rains, landslides and many villages nestled in hillside areas that were almost inaccessible.

"Many people are still buried in the ground. Rescue teams have arrived, and with the help of local people, we are trying to get the bodies and the injured out," said an employee. medical staff at a hospital in Paktika province said.

Loretta Hieber Girardet, an expert from the United Nations office for disaster risk reduction, said efforts to aid and get stranded people out would be hugely challenged due to the terrain and weather.

"These roads are inherently very bad even when the weather is nice," she said, adding that rain combined with tremors would create the risk of landslides, endangering humanitarian workers.

Afghan official Salahuddin Ayubi said the death toll is likely to rise "due to some villages in remote mountainous areas and taking a long time to gather details".

Organizing the earthquake response is a big challenge for the Taliban government. This force came to power in August 2021 and is almost isolated from the international community, receiving no foreign aid because of its hard line, which imposes some restrictions on women and girls.