Death Toll From Afghanistan Earthquake Exceeds 2,000, Six Villages Are Destroyed

2060 people have died as a result of powerful earthquakes that struck western Afghanistan, a Taliban government spokesperson reported on Sunday. One of the deadliest earthquakes to hit the nation in the past 20 years.

Numerous people were murdered in western Afghanistan on Saturday as a result of a violent magnitude-6.3 earthquake and its subsequent aftershocks, according to the nation’s national disaster administration.

The Ministry of Information and Culture’s spokesman, Abdul Wahid Rayan, however, claimed that more people have died as a result of the Herat earthquake than had been initially estimated. He added, while pleading for immediate assistance, that hundreds of civilians had been buried in the debris and that about six villages had been destroyed.

Late on Saturday, the United Nations provided a preliminary death toll of 320 but later clarified that the number was still being verified. According to the same report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, estimates from local authorities place the death toll at 100 and the number of injuries at 500.

According to the update, 465 reported home losses and 135 reported home damages.

According to concerns that some individuals may be trapped beneath collapsed structures, partners and local authorities “expect the number of casualties to rise as search and rescue efforts continue,” the UN stated.

Four villages in the Zenda Jan district of Herat province, according to disaster authority spokeswoman Mohammad Abdullah Jan, took the brunt of the initial earthquake and its aftershocks.

The epicenter of the earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey, was located around 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Herat city. Three extremely powerful aftershocks with magnitudes of 6.3, 5.9, and 5.5 were immediately followed by smaller shocks.

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Around noon, at least five powerful tremors were felt in the city, according to Abdul Shakor Samadi, a local of Herat.