The death toll from strong earthquakes that shook western Afghanistan has risen to over 2,000, a Taliban government spokesman said Sunday. It's one of the deadliest earthquakes to strike the country in two decades.
A powerful magnitude-6.3 earthquake followed by strong aftershocks killed dozens of people in western Afghanistan on Saturday, the country's national disaster authority said.
But Abdul Wahid Rayan, spokesman at the Ministry of Information and Culture, said the death toll from the earthquake in Herat is higher than originally reported. About six villages have been destroyed and hundreds of civilians have been buried under the debris, he said while calling for urgent help.
The initial earthquake struck 40 km west of the city of Herat around 11 a.m. local time, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan. It was felt in neighboring Badghis and Farah provinces.
"Initial assessments indicate that as many as 100 people have been killed across eight villages in Zindajan Province, Herat Province ... with a further 500 people injured," the agency said in an update, noting that "unconfirmed reports suggest this figure may be closer to 320 people."
Disaster authority spokesperson Mohammad Abdullah Jan said four villages in the Zenda Jan district in Herat province bore the brunt of the quake and aftershocks.
The World Health Organization in Afghanistan said it dispatched 12 ambulance cars to Zenda Jan to evacuate casualties to hospitals.
"As deaths & casualties from the earthquake continue to be reported, teams are in hospitals assisting treatment of wounded & assessing additional needs," the U.N. agency said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "WHO-supported ambulances are transporting those affected, most of them women and children."
Telephone connections went down in Herat, making it hard to get details from affected areas but videos on social media showed hundreds of people in the streets outside their homes and offices in Herat city.
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