Afghanistan earthquake kills at least 155 people

22/6/2022 13:49

        An earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday, killing at least 155 people.
        
        Information remained scarce on the magnitude 6 temblor that struck Paktika province, but it comes as the international community largely has left Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover of the country last year amid the chaotic withdrawal of the U.S. military from the longest war in its history.
        
        That likely will complicate any relief efforts for this country of 38 million people.
        
        The state-run Bakhtar news agency reported the death toll and said rescuers were arriving by helicopter. The news agency's director-general, Abdul Wahid Rayan, wrote on Twitter that 90 houses have been destroyed in Paktika and dozens of people are believed trapped under the rubble.
        
        Neighboring Pakistan's Meteorological Department put the earthquake at a magnitude 6.1. Tremors were felt in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, and elsewhere in the eastern Punjab province.
        
        The European seismological agency, EMSC, said the earthquake's tremors were felt over 500 kilometers by 119 million people across Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.