Afghan quake kills at least eight
A magnitude 5.8–5.9 earthquake struck the Hindu Kush late Friday, killing at least eight people after a house collapsed near Kabul and leaving a family with a single injured survivor. (aljazeera.com) The tremor was felt across Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India — Delhi‑NCR residents poured into the streets and offices even though no immediate casualties were reported there — underlining how a moderate quake can be deadly where housing and emergency capacity are weak. ( | )
A late‑Friday earthquake killed at least eight people when a house on the outskirts of Kabul collapsed, leaving a toddler as the only survivor, Afghan officials said. (pbs.org) (gulfnews.com) Seismologists measured the event as about magnitude 5.8; its epicenter lay in the Hindu Kush mountains of northern Afghanistan. (earthquake.usgs.gov) (emsc-csem.org) The quake began roughly 186–190 kilometers below the surface, so its energy arrived across a broad region instead of concentrating near the epicenter. That depth let people in cities hundreds of kilometers away feel the jolt while producing less intense shaking at the ground directly above the source. (earthquake.usgs.gov) (emsc-csem.org) Because the seismic waves traveled far, they rattled homes and offices well beyond Afghanistan. Authorities and residents reported tremors across much of Afghanistan and into western Pakistan; people in Delhi‑NCR and other parts of northern India also felt shaking and poured into streets and stairwells, though Indian officials reported no immediate injuries. (pbs.org) (thehindu.com) The deaths in Kabul came from a single family’s home collapsing on the city’s outskirts, a scene officials say is sadly familiar in Afghanistan. Poor and rural construction—homes made of mud‑brick and timber—does not resist even moderate shaking, and authorities struggle to reach remote areas quickly after quakes. (pbs.org) (gulfnews.com) Afghanistan has a recent history of deadly earthquakes: a magnitude‑6 event last August killed thousands in remote valleys, where villages built from mud brick and wood were flattened. That memory helps explain why a quake of this size can still be lethal in parts of the country. (pbs.org) Officials put health and emergency teams on alert and began checking reports from outlying districts; the injured child from the Kabul collapse was reported to be receiving care. (pbs.org) (gulfnews.com) Seismologists will keep refining the quake’s parameters, but the immediate picture is clear: a moderate earthquake that began deep underground sent shaking across a wide swath of South Asia and turned deadly where fragile housing met old vulnerabilities. (earthquake.usgs.gov) (emsc-csem.org)
