On Sunday morning there were two new strong earthquakes in western Afghanistan, about thirty kilometers north of the city of Herat, the third most populous in the country. According to measurements by the US Geological Survey (USGS), the scientific agency of the United States which mainly deals with geology, the first earthquake occurred at 5.36 am and had a magnitude of 6.3, the second occurred 20 minutes later and had had a magnitude of 5.4.
Western Afghanistan had already been affected by two other earthquakes of magnitude 6.3 on 7 and 11 October. More than 2 thousand people died due to the first earthquake, almost all women and children according to the United Nations. For the moment there is no news of injuries caused by the new seismic event. The hypocenter of Sunday’s strongest earthquake was 6.3 kilometers deep, which is shallower than those of the previous two.
For days in the region many people have been sleeping on the streets for fear of returning to their homes and being buried in the event of a new earthquake, or because they no longer have a home. Relief has arrived slowly due to a lack of adequate equipment and local hospitals have great difficulty providing medical care to all the people who need it.