Seven killed in Afghan quake

KABUL - At least seven people were killed and more than 30 injured Monday when a magnitude-5.3 earthquake hit a mountainous province in northern Afghanistan, officials said.

The quake hit the Dara-e-soof and Doaab districts of Samangan province shortly after midnight Monday, destroying and damaging more than 200 houses, said Haji Gholam Sakhi, the deputy provincial governor.

Woman and children were among the dead, Sakhi said.

The tremor was also felt in Kabul, other northern provinces and the neighbouring countries of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

It occurred at 12.58 a.m. (2028 GMT Sunday) about 125 km south-east of Mazar-e Sharif and 190 km north-west of Kabul at a depth of 10 km, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake killed dozens of heads of livestock and blocked a road to the remote affected districts, making it more difficult for rescue teams and aid organisation to reach the area.

Sakhi said the provincial government dispatched assessment and rescue teams to figure out the scale of the losses and damage.

The Hindu Kush Mountains, which divide Afghanistan into its northern and southern regions, are prone to large-scale earthquakes.

About 1,000 people were killed in Samangan’s neighboring province of Baghlan in 2002 when a magnitude-5.3 quake hit the province.