NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s deadliest earthquake in two decades killed at least 920 people near the southeastern city of Khost on Wednesday, officials have said.
The country has a long history of earthquakes, many in the mountainous Hindu Kush region bordering Pakistan.
Death tolls have been worsened by the remote locations of many quakes and decades of war that have left infrastructure in perilous condition.
Here is a list of Afghan quakes that have killed more than 100 people over the last three decades, according to the U.S. government’s National Centers for Environmental Information:
1991, HINDU KUSH
Earthquake in the rugged Hindu Kush killed 848 people across Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Soviet Union.
1997, QAYEN
A magnitude 7.2 quake on the border of Afghanistan and Iran killed more than 1,500 in both countries, and completely destroyed more than 10,000 homes.
FEB 1998, TAKHAR
The earthquake in the remote northeastern province of Takhar killed at least 2,300 people, with some estimates ranging as high as 4,000.
MAY 1998, TAKHAR
A second quake of magnitude 6.6 in the same region killed 4,700 in the same region just three months later.
2002, HINDU KUSH TWIN QUAKES
Twin earthquakes in the Hindu Kush in March 2002 killed a total of 1,100.
2015, HINDU KUSH
A quake of magnitude 7.5, one of the largest in Afghanistan’s recorded history killed a total of 399 people in Afghanistan and neighbours Pakistan and India.
(Corrects paragraph 1 death toll to 920, not 950)
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Comments