Dozens killed and wounded as strong quake jolts Afghanistan
At least 250 people have lost their lives and several others wounded as magnitude 6.1 quake rocks eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan at early hours of Wednesday.
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A powerful earthquake hit Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least 255 people in the country's east, Al-Jazeera reported. Initial assessments, reported by state-run media earlier in the day suggested that 155 people were dead, while many more were wounded.
"According to preliminary information ... 100 people have been killed in Paktika, Gayan district, and in Afghan Dubai village, in Spera district of Khost province, 20 people have been exhumed," Elias Khel Naseri, the head of the Southwest Red Crescent zone told Sputnik.
The quake shook parts of eastern Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan during the early hours of Wednesday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The death toll is likely to rise, media reports said.
The quake struck about 44 km (27 miles) from the city of Khost in southeastern Afghanistan and was at a depth of 51km (31 miles), according to the USGS.
Shaking was felt over a range of some 500km (310 miles) by about 119 million people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said in a tweet.
It was felt in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul as well as Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, according to witness accounts posted on the EMSC website and by users on Twitter.
“Strong and long jolts,” one witness posted on EMSC from Kabul. “It was strong,” another witness posted from Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan.
According to Pajhwok Afghan News reporters, the earthquake happened at around 1:30 am when people were sleeping, the tremors were felt in Kabul, Ghazni, Maidan Wardak, Logar, Paktika, Paktia, Laghman and Nangarhar provinces.
Several photos and videos, purportedly depicting the aftermath of the quake are circulating online, showing destroyed houses and wounded people.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department said the quake jolted parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, according to Dawn news website, which added that there were no immediate news of deaths or damage.
