Thirteen killed, dozens hurt in Afghan quake: Officials

Thirteen people were killed and scores of mud-brick homes were flattened when a powerful earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Jalalabad: Thirteen people were killed, dozens injured and scores of mud-brick homes were flattened when a powerful earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, officials said. The Red Crescent in the worst-hit province of Nangarhar said 12 people were killed there, while one person was confirmed dead in neighbouring Kunar province.

"The number of dead is expected to rise as the search operation is still ongoing," said Nangarhar Red Crescent chief Nagyalay Yusufzai. He said more than 60 people were hurt in the quake, which sent people rushing from their homes and was felt in the Afghan capital Kabul and in Islamabad in neighbouring Pakistan. The quake, measured at a magnitude of 5.6 by the US Geological Survey, struck at 0925 GMT at a depth of 62 kilometres (39 miles). Its epicentre was 24 kilometres northwest of the Nangarhar provincial capital Jalalabad, near the Pakistani border, the USGS said. Nangarhar government spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai gave a different figure of nine confirmed dead in his province and said more than 100 were injured. "There has been widespread damage in some affected villages since most of the houses there are mud-built," he said. One person was killed and one injured in Kunar and many homes were destroyed, said its spokesman Wasefullah Wasef. In Kama district outside Jalalabad, people ran from their homes in panic when the tremor was felt, a witness said, describing it as "very powerful". AFP