Another major earthquake shakes Afghanistan days after thousands killed

Quake strikes same area where Saturday’s tremors left over 2,400 dead

Another strong earthquake shook parts of western Afghanistan where a temblor on Saturday killed more than 2,400 people.

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake was recorded early morning on Wednesday near Herat province, according to the US Geological Survey.

The epicentre of the quake was about 28km outside Herat city – the capital of Herat province – at a depth of 10km.

No information was immediately available about damage from Wednesday’s earthquake.

The epicentre of Saturday’s deadly quake was also about 40km northwest of the provincial capital and several aftershocks were recorded.

Taliban officials said more than 2,400 people had died across Herat after the earlier quakes that laid entire villages to waste with many people trapped in rubble.

With little to no international help and resources, Afghans have been struggling to dig through the rubble even after days. The city of Herat just has one hospital, as survivors struggled to get medical care with many left homeless ahead of a harsh winter.

In Naib Rafi, a village that previously had about 2,500 residents, the Associated Press reported that “almost no one was still alive” besides men who were working outside when the quake struck. Survivors worked all day with excavators to dig long trenches for mass burials.

“It is very difficult to find a family member from a destroyed house and a few minutes to later bury him or her in a nearby grave, again under the ground,” Mir Agha, a resident from the city of Herat who had joined hundreds of volunteers to help the locals, told the news agency.

Nearly 2,000 houses in 20 villages were destroyed, the Taliban have said. The area hit by the quake has just one government-run hospital.

According to a WHO report, an estimated 12,110 people (1,730 families) in five districts Zindajan, Injil, Gulran, Injil and Khosan in Herat province have been impacted by the earthquake.

This devastation comes a year after an earthquake killed over 1,000 people in Afghanistan.