Another earthquake struck Afghanistan on Friday, days after a series of devastating earthquakes shook the country, leaving thousands of people dead and displaced. The new quake measured 4.5 and occurred late morning, approximately at 11 AM IST and had a shallow depth of 10 kilometres, the National Centre of Seismology said. This follows a shallow 4.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the country early Friday morning at 7:46 AM and another 5.2 magnitude quake that hit southeastern Afghanistan at 7 AM, further joining the fear in an already torn country.
At the beginning of the week, an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 hit the Kunar province of Afghanistan, killing more than 2200 people, injuring over 3600 others and destroying thousands of houses. The superficiality of this earthquake led to huge destruction, destroying whole villages and leaving many people homeless. This was followed by a second (5.5) magnitude tremor on Tuesday, which slowed down the continued rescue efforts and caused landslides that blocked access to isolated communities.
Throughout the week, several smaller quakes, such as a 4.1 and 6.2 magnitude earthquake, continued shaking the ground and added to the devastation. According to the authorities, more than 6,700 houses have been ruined in the affected areas, and whole communities are unable to find shelter and even basic needs.
The most affected provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar have received emergency assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP), and rescue teams are still searching in the rubble in search of survivors. The frequent earthquakes have plunged Afghanistan into a humanitarian catastrophe, with thousands of affected families in urgent need of food and medical care and temporary shelter.
The occurrence rate of earthquakes in eastern Afghanistan has led to issues concerning the resilience of infrastructure and disaster preparedness, which have underscored the importance of responding to disasters through the implementation of short-term (immediate) relief interventions long-term response measures.
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