Tension As Another 4.9 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Afghanistan

There is currently an ongoing commotion in Western Afghanistan after another earthquake with a 4.9 magnitude hit the country.

The latest development is happening at a time when the government was yet to get over the death of over two thousand people from Saturday’s quake, which rocked several parts of the country.

Naija News reports that the new tremors in Afghanistan were confirmed on Monday by the United States Geological Survey and residents in the area.

“It was quite intense,” a doctor in the area described Monday’s quake to Dpa.

“People took shelter in parks, open spaces, and gardens,” he added, saying the deadly earthquake from Saturday has negatively affected people’s mental health. “Most of the patients are those who have mental shocks,” the Doctor reported.

Naija News understands that the 6.3 magnitude earthquake at the weekend wrecked no fewer than thirteen (13) villages in Herat province’s Zindah Jan district.

According to Reuters, more than 2,400 people were killed in the weekend’s earthquakes in Afghanistan. The Taliban administration was quoted to have said on Sunday that Saturday quakes in the west of the country hit 35 km (20 miles) northwest of the city of Herat, with one of 6.3 magnitude, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

The events were recorded as one of the world’s deadliest quakes this year after tremors in Turkey and Syria killed an estimated 50,000 in February.

In the latest development, a spokesman for the Ministry of Disasters, Janan Sayeeq, said in a message to Reuters that the toll had risen to 2,445 dead, but he revised the number of injured to “more than 2,000”. Earlier, he had said that 9,240 people had been injured.

Sayeeq also confirmed to journalists that 1,320 houses had been damaged or destroyed. The death toll spiked from 500 reported earlier on Sunday by the Red Crescent.

Food, drinking water, medicine, clothes and tents were urgently needed for rescue and relief, Suhail Shaheen, the head of the Taliban political office in Qatar, had said in a message to the media, also confirming that ten rescue teams were in the area, which borders Iran.