Powerful earthquake shakes west Afghanistan a week after devastating quakes hit same region

The latest quake’s epicentre was about 34 kilometres outside Herat, the provincial capital, and eight kilometres below the surface, says the US Geological survey. Photo / AP

A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck western Afghanistan on Sunday, just over a week after strong quakes and aftershocks killed thousands of people and flattened entire villages in the same region.

The US Geological Survey said the latest quake’s epicentre was about 34 kilometres outside Herat, the provincial capital, and eight kilometres below the surface.

There were no immediate official reports of possible casualties or damage.

The earthquakes on October 7 flattened whole villages in Herat, in one of the most destructive quakes in the country’s recent history.

The previous earthquakes flattened whole villages, in one of the most destructive quakes in the country’s recent history.

More than 90 per cent of the people killed a week ago were women and children, UN officials reported on Thursday.

Taliban officials said the earlier quakes killed more than 2000 people across the province. The epicentre was in Zenda Jan district, where 1294 people died, 1688 were injured and every home was destroyed, according to UN figures.

The initial quake, numerous aftershocks and a second 6.3 magnitude quake on Wednesday flattened villages, destroying hundreds of mud-brick homes that could not withstand such force. Schools, health clinics and other village facilities also collapsed.

Besides rubble and funerals after that devastation, there was little left of the villages in the region’s dusty hills. Survivors are struggling to come to terms with the loss of multiple family members and in many places, living residents are outnumbered by volunteers who came to search the debris and dig mass graves.