A devastating earthquake claimed eight lives and injured one child in Afghanistan’s capital city on Friday after a residential building crumbled during the seismic event, according to the country’s National Disaster Management Authority.
The magnitude 5.9 tremor originated in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush mountain region, as reported by the German Research Centre for Geosciences. Seismic monitoring showed the earthquake occurred approximately 110 miles below the surface.
The powerful shaking was experienced far beyond Afghanistan’s borders, with residents in Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad, Afghanistan’s Kabul, and India’s New Delhi all reporting significant ground movement, according to international news witnesses.
The mountainous terrain of Afghanistan makes the nation particularly vulnerable to various natural catastrophes, with seismic activity being the most lethal. On average, earthquakes in the region claim approximately 560 lives annually.
This latest tragedy follows another devastating quake that struck the country last November, when a magnitude 6.3 earthquake resulted in at least 27 fatalities and leveled hundreds of residential structures.
