A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck northeastern Afghanistan on Saturday, shaking Kabul and several northern and northeastern provinces, while authorities continued to assess possible casualties and damage.
Residents in Kabul, as well as in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif and other parts of the country, reported feeling strong tremors. There were no immediate official reports of casualties or significant damage.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake’s epicenter was located about 43 kilometers south of Jurm district in Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province. The quake struck at a depth of 208 kilometers, a depth that often allows tremors to be felt across a wide geographic area.
Afghanistan lies along several active tectonic fault lines and experiences frequent earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain region, where deep seismic activity is common. Strong earthquakes originating in the region are often felt across neighboring countries, including Pakistan, Tajikistan, and northern India.
The country remains highly vulnerable to seismic disasters due to fragile infrastructure, remote mountainous terrain, and limited emergency response capacity. Previous earthquakes have caused significant casualties and displacement, particularly in rural communities where homes are often built with weak construction materials.
