A powerful earthquake struck northern Afghanistan early on Monday, killing at least 10 people and injuring hundreds of others, in the latest natural disaster to batter the already ailing nation.
The magnitude-6.3 quake struck just before 1 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Its epicenter was near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which is home to about 500,000 people and is known for its magnificent 15th-century Blue Mosque.
The full extent of the damage was not immediately clear. A spokesman for the health ministry, Sharafat Zaman, said at least 10 people had died, and 260 others who were wounded had been transferred to local hospitals. The Ministry of Defense mentioned deaths and injuries in a social media statement but didn’t provide figures.
The earthquake is the latest to hit Afghanistan in recent months, including one in late August, near the eastern city of Jalalabad that killed at least 2,200 people and injured thousands more, the authorities have said. A previous earthquake in northern Afghanistan killed nearly 1,500 people in 2023, according to officials.
Four years after the Taliban reclaimed power in Afghanistan, more than half of the country’s 42 million people are already in need of humanitarian assistance. The country’s economy has been further strained by the recent return of more than two million Afghans who were either deported from, or forced to leave neighboring Iran and Pakistan amid growing xenophobia and rising tensions between governments.
A sharp drop in foreign aid this year, driven by the Trump administration and European countries, has forced the closure of hundreds of health care facilities.
Yousaf Hammad, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s disaster management agency, said on X that several casualties were in Samangan Province, near the border with Uzbekistan.
The quake also hit the neighboring Balkh Province, whose capital, Mazar-i-Sharif, is one of Afghanistan’s largest cities. It was one of the last major Afghan cities to fall when the Taliban retook power in 2021.
Its Blue Mosque, a shrine to a central figure in the Shiite sect of Islam, is one of Afghanistan’s most iconic architectural landmarks. Known for its vivid blue clay tiles, it is a pilgrimage site and a place of celebrations for Nowruz, the Persian New Year. It remained unclear as of Monday morning if it had sustained significant damage.
Safiullah Padshah contributed reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan.
Elian Peltier is an international correspondent for The Times, covering Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mike Ives is a reporter for The Times based in Seoul, covering breaking news around the world.
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