Kabul [Afghanistan], October 8 : As many as 15 people have been killed, and 40 injured in Saturday's earthquake in Afghanistan's Herat, Khaama Press reported.
The Khaama Press is an online news service for Afghanistan.
The Taliban-appointed spokesperson for the Ministry of State for Disaster Management, Mullah Jan Saigh on Saturday said, "Unfortunately, today we had an earthquake in three provinces of the country: Herat, Farah, and Badghis. This earthquake has resulted in significant casualties in Herat."
He also said that these are preliminary figures, and there is a possibility of them increasing. Saigh stated that in Farah and Badghis, some houses have also been destroyed, but there are no reports of casualties.
The spokesperson for this ministry also added that some residential houses in the provinces of Farah and Badghis have also been damaged to some extent, as per Khaama Press.
International geological sources also reported that two strong earthquakes and several aftershocks shook western Afghanistan within a 30-minute interval on Saturday morning. The epicentre of these quakes was near Herat, the largest city in the country.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the earthquake had its epicentre in the Zenda Jan district of Herat province, with an initial magnitude of 6.3.
As a result, people in Herat province and specific areas of Mashhad have evacuated their homes as a precaution against potential aftershocks.
The connectivity outage makes it challenging to gather information and evaluate the full impact of the seismic event and any resulting damages.
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