Hundreds dead after powerful quake hits near Khost, Afghanistan, early this morning
Destruction of the quake in an area near Khost city (image: user-submitted)

The 5.9 magnitude quake that hit southeastern Afghanistan early this morning left at least 280 dead and more than 600 injured.

The earthquake's epicenter was approx. 40 km southwest of the provincial capital city of Khost. Its shallow depth only 6-10 km increased the shaking intensity in this area. As it occurred at 1.24 a.m. local time, it caught most people in their sleep. Near the epicenter, entire villages have been almost completely been leveled and the fatality number is likely to increase as search and rescue efforts continue.

Within minutes of the tremor struck, we received reports of shaking felt in up to 300 km distance including the country's capital Kabul. Near the epicenter, shaking reached strong to very strong intensities and lasted up to approx. 1-2 minutes. A user from Khost reported: "At around 1:27 am at night while we were asleep an earthquake shook our house ... for 2 minutes. ... Causalities were reported from Speera, Dandkai Village and particularly Gheeyan District of the Paktika area".

An aftershock of magnitude 4.5 magnitude struck about 30 miles southwest of Khost about an hour later.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said that its country will provide assistance in search and rescue as well as medical help to Afghanistan.


Earthquake data:
Date & time: Jun 22, 2022 1:24 am (GMT +4:30) local time (21 Jun 2022 20:54 GMT)
Magnitude: 5.9
Depth: 10.0 km
Epicenterlatitude / longitude: 33.09°N / 69.51°E (Spērah, Khost, Afghanistan)
Primary data source: USGS
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquake/news/184206/Hundreds-dead-after-powerful-quake-hits-near-Khost-Afghanistan-early-this-morning.html