HERAT, Afghanistan: A significant 6.3 magnitude earthquake rocked western Afghanistan on Sunday, further compounding the region’s woes just over a week after a series of devastating quakes and aftershocks claimed thousands of lives and razed entire villages.
The U.S. Geological Survey pinpointed the epicenter of the latest quake approximately 34 kilometers outside Herat, the provincial capital, and buried 8 kilometers beneath the earth’s surface.
As of now, there have been no immediate official reports of potential casualties or structural damage. Nevertheless, the collective memory of the October 7 quakes, which obliterated whole villages in Herat, still haunts the region’s residents.
More than 90% of the casualties from the prior quakes were women and children, as reported by U.N. officials on Thursday. Taliban authorities disclosed that the earlier seismic events claimed over 2,000 lives across the province. The epicenter of the devastation was in Zenda Jan district, where 1,294 people lost their lives, 1,688 sustained injuries, and every home crumbled into rubble, according to U.N. statistics.
The initial massive quake, along with a series of aftershocks and a subsequent 6.3-magnitude temblor last Wednesday, left countless villages in ruins, reducing hundreds of mud-brick homes to dust. Schools, health clinics, and other vital community facilities also fell victim to the relentless force of nature.
In the wake of this cataclysm, what remains in the region’s dusty hills is primarily rubble and sorrow. Survivors grapple with the loss of numerous family members, and in many areas, the living are outnumbered by volunteers who have arrived to sift through the wreckage and provide dignified burials for the deceased. The people of western Afghanistan exhibit remarkable resilience as they confront the harrowing aftermath of these natural disasters, striving to rebuild their lives amidst the devastation.
