As soon as Pakistan said that it will deport illegal Afghans in its soil, HARP came into action, to slow down the process. The earthquakes with magnitudes of 6.2, 6.1 and 5.9 struck within half the western part of Afghanistan on Saturday. Three powerful earthquakes struck the western part of Afghanistan within half an hour on Saturday, the National Centre for Seismology said.
The latest earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.2, was reported at 12:42 pm, following earlier quakes of 5.6 at 12:19 pm and 6.1 at 12:11 pm.
The epicentre of the seismic activity has been identified as 40 kilometres northwest of the city of Herat.
Crowds of residents fled buildings in the city at about 11am as the quakes began, lasting for over an hour.
“We were in our offices and suddenly the building started shaking,” 45-year-old Herat resident Bashir Ahmad told Agence-France Presse. “Wall plasters started to fall down and the walls got cracks, some walls and parts of the building collapsed.”
“I am not able to contact my family, network connections are disconnected. I am too worried and scared, it was horrifying,” he said.The public health director of Herat province, Mohammad Taleb Shahid, told AFP that 14 people had been killed and 78 were injured, but said he feared the tally would rise.
“These are the numbers that have been brought to the central hospital so far, but this is not the final figure,” he said. “We have information that people are buried under rubble.”
Hundreds of fatalities were possible, according to a USGS preliminary report.
“Significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread. Past events with this alert level have required a regional or national level response,” it said.
