Powerful earthquake rocks much of South Asia. Strong earthquake in Afghanistan kills scores. A major earthquake has hit Afghanistan, northern Pakistan and parts of India, with more than 150 killed and early reports suggesting it has caused extensive damage in mountainous areas.
The magnitude 7.5 quake was centred in the province of Badakhshan in the Hindu Kush mountain range in Afghanistan’s far north, and occurred at a depth of 130 miles (210km). Officials said at least 147 people were known to have been killed in Pakistan and 33 in Afghanistan. Twelve students were killed while trying to escape from a girls’ school in Taloqan, north-east Afghanistan, and six people died in the eastern province of Nangarhar. A police official in Badakhshan said dozens of houses were destroyed in two remote and sparsely populated rural districts, with some damage reported in Fayzabad. Power was cut across much of the Afghan capital, Kabul, where the quake was felt for about 45 seconds. Afghanistan and Pakistan earthquake death toll will rise, say officials.
More than 260 people were killed by a powerful earthquake that rocked northern Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday, with officials warning that the death toll would rise as rescue workers reach isolated valleys in the coming days.
Measuring 7.5 magnitude, the prolonged tremors were some of the worst the region has experienced in recent years and were felt hundreds of miles away from the epicentre in north-east Afghanistan. At least 228 people were killed in Pakistan, with more than 1,000 injured, while Afghan officials reported 33 dead and more than 200 injured, and authorities in the Indian-controlled Kashmir region reported two deaths. The Afghan death toll included 12 schoolgirls caught in a stampede to escape a school building in the northern city of Taluqan, close to the epicentre. “They fell under the feet of other students,” said Abdul Razaq Zinda, head of the Afghan National Disaster Management Agency, who reported heavy damage in Takhar province.
Kabul TV presenter leaves his desk as quake hits. Afghan quake: The corner of a continental collision. Image copyright Getty Images Very large but mercifully deep: this appears to be the view of scientists analysing the deadly earthquake in Afghanistan.
Initially measured by the US Geological Survey as magnitude 7.7, the quake is now listed by the USGS as magnitude 7.5. Even this revised assessment makes Monday's event a terribly powerful tremor. Around the world, only about 20 quakes each year, on average, measure greater than magnitude 7.0. But the origin of the shaking was more than 200km (125 miles) below the surface - much deeper than the magnitude 7.8 quake that brought widespread destruction to eastern Nepal in April. Similarly, the devastating tremor that killed tens of thousands in Kashmir almost exactly 10 years ago was magnitude 7.6 - and just 26km deep. The much greater depth of Monday's quake appears to have lessened the ground shaking that it produced, although its effects were felt over a wide area. Image copyright Reuters "It's a really intricate area," Prof Mai told BBC News. Earthquake hits Afghanistan and Pakistan: As it happened, 26 October 2015. Afghanistan-Pakistan earthquake causes widespread destruction.
Afghanistan-Pakistan quake: Rescue efforts expanded. Rescue efforts are being stepped up to help those affected by the magnitude-7.5 earthquake which hit remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday.
At least 275 people are known to have died, and up to 2,000 were injured. Rescue teams have been sent to remote mountainous areas where the effects of the quake are still unclear. The quake's focus was deep, reducing its impact. Victims included 12 Afghan schoolgirls killed in a stampede as they tried to leave their classes. "They fell under the feet of other students," a disaster official in the province of Takhar told Reuters. Reports said many people across the region, afraid of a new quake, spent the night sleeping outside in temperatures close to freezing. Afghanistan's Chief Executive, Abdullah Abdullah, said the earthquake was the strongest felt in the country in recent decades. The government was working to provide assistance for those affected, he said. Parts of the province have also been seized by Taliban fighters. Image copyright AP.