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Afghanistan earthquake: Death toll rises to 950

The death toll is likely to rise, media reports said.

Published 2 years ago on Jun 22nd 2022, 10:29 am

Afghanistan earthquake: Death toll rises to 950

Kabul: At least 950 people have died in an earthquake that struck Afghanistan’s Paktika province on Wednesday morning, officials said, almost quadrupling the death toll from earlier in the day.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 that rocked Afghanistan has killed at least 950 and left scores injured in the country's east.

A disaster management official said that another 610 people have been injured.

The death toll is likely to rise, media reports said.

The majority of confirmed deaths were in the province of Paktika, where 610 people have been injured, said Mohammad Nassim Haqqani, the head of the Taliban administration's disaster management authority.

Deaths were also reported in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Khost, he added, as authorities check for further casualties.

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.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department said the quake jolted parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, however, there were no immediate reports of deaths or damage to property.

The state-run Bakhtar news agency reported the death toll and said rescuers were arriving by helicopter.

The news agency's director-general, Abdul Wahid Rayan, wrote on Twitter that 90 houses have been destroyed in Paktika and dozens of people are believed trapped under the rubble.

Images widely circulating online from the province showed destroyed stone houses, with residents picking through clay bricks and other rubble.