An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 has killed at least 250 people in Afghanistan, the country’s disaster management authority says.
The quake shook parts of eastern Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan during the early hours of Wednesday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, Aljazeera reported.
Shaking was felt over a range of some 500km (310 miles) by about 119 million people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said in a tweet.
#BREAKING: At least 255 people have been killed and 155 others injured in an earthquake in Barmala, Ziruk, Naka and Gayan districts of Paktika province on Tuesday night.
Local officials say the death toll could rise if the central government did not provide emergency help. pic.twitter.com/YlByfyArtG— Bakhtar News Agency (@BakhtarNA) June 22, 2022
It was felt in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul as well as Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, according to witness accounts posted on the EMSC website and by users on Twitter.
“Strong and long jolts,” one witness posted on EMSC from Kabul. “It was strong,” another witness posted from Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department said the quake jolted parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, according to Dawn news website, which added that there were no immediate news of deaths or damage.