-Agency Reports
At least 15 people have been killed and a further 40 injured after a series of powerful earthquakes struck Afghanistan.
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Multiple quakes hit western area of the war-torn country on Saturday, with the epicentre around 25 miles northwest of the city of Herat.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) recorded two quakes of a magnitude of 6.3, followed by an aftershock with a 5.5 magnitude.
It comes a month after a devastating earthquake struck Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains killing at least 3,000 people.
Mullah Jan Sayeq, from Afghanistan’s ministry of disaster management, said early reports from the Zinda Jan district of Herat province indicated 15 people were killed by the quakes and another 40 had suffered injuries as buildings were damaged, trapping people under the rubble.
He said four villages in Zenda Jan district of Herat province bore the brunt of the tremors but the provinces of Farah and Badghis had also been affected, with reports of widespread damage to houses but no details of casualties yet.
Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban-appointed deputy prime minister for economic affairs, expressed his condolences to the dead and injured in Herat and Badghis.
The Afghan Red Crescent said it had emergency teams and volunteers preparing to go Herat and help victims.
Herat resident Abdul Shakor Samadi described how his family began shouting and ran outside their home when at least five powerful earthquakes struck the city around noon. He said they were not too afraid to go back inside.
“All people are out of their homes,” he said, “Houses, offices and shops are all empty and there are fears of more earthquakes.”
“Me and my family were inside our home, I felt the quake.”
A map posted on the USGS website reveals seven earthquakes in the region, including a magnitude 5.9 earthquake 21 miles north-northwest of Herat, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake 20 miles north-northeast of Zindah Jan and another 6.3 magnitude earthquake 18 miles north-northeast of Zindah Jan.
Telephone connections were down making it difficult to obtain exact details on the location and level of destruction but social media videos showed hundreds of people in the streets outside their homes and offices in Herat city.
Afghanistan was not the only area of the globe to be struck by an earthquake on Saturday.
Papua New Guinea was also affected, with one of magnitude 6.7 recorded 39 miles southeast of Madang town, according to the USGS.
It came after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake also shook southern Mexico on Friday night.
The USGS said the earthquake occurred shortly after 11 pm local time near the town of Matias Romero in the southern state of Oaxaca.
Oaxaca Governor Salomón Jara Cruz called for calm via the social media and said state officials were checking for impacts from the earthquake across the state.