The death toll from a series of strong earthquakes in Afghanistan’s Herat region has soared to at least 320 people, with hundreds more injured, the United Nations said on October 7, as rescue crews continued to search for survivors through the ruins of the area, including in several remote towns and villages.
There were reports of collapsed buildings in Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city some 850 kilometers west of Kabul.
“We have information that people are buried under the rubble,” Herat Public Health Director Mohammad Taleb Shahid told the AFP news agency.
The epicenter of the first earthquake was some 40 kilometers northwest of Herat, a city of 700,000 people. It was followed by at least three major aftershocks.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recorded the largest of the temblors at a magnitude of 6.3, with the latest aftershock coming about 30 kilometers northeast of the city of Zindah Jan, which has a population of about 70,000 people.
“This earthquake was preceded by a 6.3 earthquake that occurred approximately 30 minutes before,” the USGS said.
Because of the remote nature of some of the earthquake-hit areas, authorities were uncertain as to the exact casualty toll.
A spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Disaster Management Authority told the German dpa news agency that "some villages had up to 1,000 or more people living in them. There were 300 houses. Only 100 people survived."
At least 600 people had been injured, officials said.
Musa Ashgari, head of the ruling Taliban agency in Herat, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi that at least 12 villages had been destroyed in the disaster and expressed concerns that the death toll could rise substantially.
Earthquakes are common in the Herat region of northwest Afghanistan and across the nearby border with Iran.
The World Health Organization (WHO) office in Afghanistan said it had sent 12 ambulances to Zindah Jan to evacuate casualties to hospitals.
“We have sent medicines and medical supplies to the hospitals to support treatment of those wounded. Our warehouse is ready to deploy for additional medicines as needed,” WHO Afghanistan said.
“As deaths and casualties from the earthquake continue to be reported, teams are in hospitals assisting treatment of wounded and assessing additional needs,” the UN agency said.