Earthquake of Magnitude 5.66 Strikes Afghanistan-Tajikistan Border
A 5.66 magnitude earthquake struck the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border on Friday at 10 km depth. No casualties reported. Earlier quakes hit Afghanistan and Arunachal Pradesh.
Magnitude 5.66 Earthquake Hits Afghanistan-Tajikistan Border, No Immediate Damage Reported
A seismic event having the maximum intensity of 5.66 according to the Richter scale occurred at the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border as per the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). The focal point was at a depth of 10 kilometers and no immediate reports of casualties or damage have been made.
The quake that was the cause of this one being reported was a smaller one with a magnitude of 4.3 on the Richter scale. It was happening in the same region at approximately 5:23 AM, and it was National Center for Seismology that indicated this earthquake also at a depth of 10 km with exact coordinates of 34.57 N, 70.66 E, which is about 133 km east of Kabul.
In addition, an earthquake of 3.2 magnitude was reported at East Kameng in Arunachal Pradesh earlier in the day. The quake, which had its epicenter at a depth of 10 km, was located approximately 89 km west-northwest of Itanagar (coordinates 27.51 N, 92.84 E).
Afghanistan's Earthquake Vulnerability
Afghanistan is not only vulnerable but remains a hotspot for seismic events. It is the country that suffered the most from the August 31 occurrence of a 6.3 magnitude quake hitting near Jalalabad, resulting in around 2,200 deaths and over 3,600 injuries. In addition, the destruction of several villages left thousands without shelter.
The eastern part of Afghanistan has been experiencing an increasing number of tremors since then. The area has been subjected to a long history of earthquakes, some of which have been frequent and very destructive, making the situation in terms of risk to life and infrastructure a very serious one.
