An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 shook a large portion of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Tuesday, causing locals to evacuate their homes and places of business in a panic and causing people in even the most isolated areas to be alarmed. There were at least nine fatalities.
According to a statement given to the Associated Press by Bilal Faizi, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s emergency services, more than one hundred persons were taken to medical facilities located within the Swat valley region of Pakistan’s northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while in a state of shock.
He said that those horrified individuals gave up and collapsed and that some of them collapsed due to the shock of the earthquake. According to Faizi, the majority of patients were eventually released from the hospital.
According to Bilal and other officials, the collapse of roofs in various sections of Pakistan’s northwest region resulted in the deaths of nine persons. The earthquake, which had its epicenter in Afghanistan but was felt in neighboring Tajikistan as well, was responsible for the injuries of dozens of additional people. The earthquake caused landslides in parts of the hilly areas, which caused transportation problems in those locations.
A representative of the provincial agency in charge of crisis management in the northwestern region, named Taimoor Khan, stated that at least 19 homes made of mudbrick had collapsed in remote areas. He stated that we are still in the process of collecting data regarding the damages.
In Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, many people were forced to escape their homes and places of business as violent earthquakes struck the city. As they hurried, some of them recited words from the Quran, which is the holy book of Islam. According to reports in the media, fissures occurred in some of the apartment buildings located across the city.
The same thing happened in several cities around Afghanistan, including Kabul.
A resident of Kabul named Shafiullah Azimi described how terrifying the earthquake was. “We were terrified that the houses were going to fall on top of us, and everyone around us was screaming, and they were shocked,” he said.
There were conflicting reports about the location of the earthquake’s epicenter and its magnitude, but the United States Geological Survey located the quake at a depth of approximately 116 miles in the extreme northeast of Afghanistan, close to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.5. The Associated Press claimed that it was also felt in the neighboring country of Tajikistan. In the wake of the earthquake, residents of Delhi, India, who took to social media to share their experiences said that they too had felt the shaking.
The location and magnitude of the earthquake led the USGS to initially conclude that there was a “low possibility” of any damage or casualties occurring as a result of the earthquake. In a tweet that was initially sent out almost an hour after the earthquake, a representative of Afghanistan’s government named Zabihullah Mujahid stated that there had been no reports of injuries. The representative continued by saying that notwithstanding, health centers all around the country were positioned in standby mode. He stated subsequently that the Ministry of Public Health in Afghanistan has issued a directive to send aid to places that could be affected in the northern portion of the nation, areas where there may have been damage caused by the earthquake.
A physician by the name of Rakhshinda Tauseed stated that She was in the hospital that she worked in, which was located in  Lahore in the eastern part of Pakistan when the earthquake struck. She added that she swiftly urged patients to relocate to a more secure location.
People were also observed standing in front of their residences and places of business in the capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which is Peshawar. This city is located within close proximity to Afghanistan.
PM Shahbaz Sharif of Pakistan issued the following statement: he had requested that personnel in charge of disaster management keep a careful eye out for any developing situation.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the primary spokesman for the Taliban administration in Afghanistan, stated in a tweet that the Health and Human Services Department has issued an order requiring all medical facilities to be prepared for any emergency.
Seismic activity can be rather severe in this part of the world. In 2005, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Pakistan and Kashmir, taking the lives of thousands of people.
In the southeast of Afghanistan, a hilly region was rocked by an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 in the previous year, reducing dwellings made of stone and mud brick to rubble. The United Nations has provided a lower estimate of 770 deaths as a result of the earthquake, whereas the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan have estimated the entire death toll from the earthquake at 1,150, including hundreds more people who were harmed.
