Another quake of magnitude 4.1 struck Afghanistan on Thursday, hours after a 6.2 magnitude tremor, adding to a series of shocks that have followed devastating quakes earlier this week. Those earlier quakes killed over 2,200 people, injured more than 3,600, flattened villages, and left tens of thousands homeless in the country’s east.
According to the National Centre for Seismology, “EQ of M: 4.1, On: 04/09/2025 23:58:28 IST, Lat: 34.60 N, Long: 70.50 E, Depth: 50 Km, Location: Afghanistan.”
Earlier on Thursday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) reported a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in southeastern Afghanistan at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles).
Naqibullah Rahimi, spokesperson for the health department in Nangarhar province, told Reuters that the quake’s epicentre was in the remote Shiwa district near the Pakistan border. Initial reports indicated damage in the Barkashkot area, though further details were still being gathered.
The tremor, occurring at a depth of 10 km (six miles), came after earlier quakes that had flattened villages in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, left tens of thousands homeless, and injured over 3,600 people.
Afghanistan’s deadliest quake in recent years
A magnitude 6 earthquake, among Afghanistan’s deadliest in recent years, struck at a shallow depth of 10 km (six miles) on Sunday, causing widespread devastation across Kunar and Nangarhar provinces.
A second tremor of magnitude 5.5 hit on Tuesday, triggering panic, hampering rescue operations, dislodging rocks from mountains, and cutting off roads to remote villages.
Authorities said more than 6,700 homes have been destroyed, while the United Nations warned the toll may rise as people remain trapped beneath rubble and time runs out for survivors.
Access to the worst-hit areas was hampered by already poor roads, further blocked by landslides and ongoing rockfalls as powerful aftershocks continued to shake the region.
In parts of Kunar province, two-thirds of residents were reported killed or injured, and 98% of buildings were either destroyed or badly damaged, according to the UK-based charity Islamic Relief Worldwide.
Survivors, still searching for missing relatives, sifted through rubble, carried bodies on woven stretchers, and dug graves with pickaxes as they awaited aid.
Footage showed trucks, some laden with flour sacks and others carrying men with shovels, making their way to remote highland villages. Authorities also air-dropped commando units into areas where helicopters could not land.
Afghanistan is highly prone to deadly earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates converge.
(With inputs from AFP, Reuters)
Afghanistan hit by another quake of 4.1 magnitude hours after 6.2 jolt
