The majority of victims were recorded in the Afghan province of Paktika, border of Pakistan. The assessment should increase further.
Le Monde with AFP
At least 255 people were killed in an earthquake of magnitude 5.9 which struck South-East of Afghanistan, on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday June 22, according to the authorities of the country cited by the ‘press agency AP. The Reuters agency and the France-Presse agency are currently a state of 130 and 100 dead, to which are added dozens of injured.
The majority of the dead have been recorded in the Afghan province of Paktika, border of Pakistan, told Reuters Mohammad Nassim Haqqani, who heads the National Administration of Management of Taliban disasters.
“We call assistance agencies to provide immediate help to the victims of the earthquake to avoid a humanitarian disaster,” tweeted the spokesperson Bilal Karimi.
The earthquake, of a 5.9 magnitude, occurred at a depth 10 km at 1 hour, local time Wednesday (9:30 am, French time). Photos posted on social networks showed houses collapsed in the streets of a village.
Afghanistan is frequently struck by earthquakes, especially in the mountain range of the Kush Hindu which is at the junction between the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. These disasters can be particularly devastating due to the low resistance of rural Afghan houses.