At least 40 people were killed in a 5.9 magnitude earthquake that struck southeastern Afghanistan overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday June 22, according to Afghan authorities.
See alsoMagnitude 6 earthquake in eastern Taiwan
“
We call on aid agencies to provide immediate relief to earthquake victims to avert a humanitarian catastrophe,
” government spokesman Bilal Karimi tweeted.
The earthquake, with a magnitude of 5.9, occurred at a depth of 10 km at 01:00 Wednesday (04:30 GMT), very close to the border with Pakistan, according to the American Seismological Institute (USGS).
Photos posted on social media showed collapsed houses in the streets of a village.
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range which lies at the junction between the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
These disasters can be particularly devastating due to the weak resilience of rural Afghan homes.