A 5.8-magnitude earthquake in Afghanistan killed 12 people and injured four, with eight victims from a single family in Kabul province.
KABUL: A powerful overnight earthquake in Afghanistan has killed 12 people, including eight members of the same family.
The 5.8-magnitude tremor struck northeastern Badakhshan province on Friday evening, according to the US Geological Survey.
Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat confirmed the death toll and said four others were injured. He stated that five houses were completely destroyed and 33 others partially damaged across six provinces.
The quake affected a total of 40 families, with shaking felt widely, including in the capital Kabul.
“In the Gosfand Dara area of Kabul Province, eight members of a family died as a result of the earthquake,” Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said.
A young child was the only survivor from that household, though the boy was injured in the tremor. The Afghan Red Crescent Society reported the other four fatalities occurred in western Kabul.
Afghanistan is prone to earthquakes due to its location along the Hindu Kush mountain range. This is where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.
A shallow magnitude 6 quake in August killed more than 2,200 people, marking the deadliest tremor in the country’s recent history.
