KABUL: Two powerful aftershocks shook eastern Afghanistan in a span of 12 hours, the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) said, triggering fears of more deaths and destruction on Friday in a region where about 2,200 people died in quakes in four days.
They follow two earthquakes that have already ravaged the South Asian nation, crushed by war, poverty and shrinking aid. The Taliban administration estimated 2,205 deaths and 3,640 injuries by Thursday.
A Reuters witness said continuous aftershocks hit the province of Nangarhar and details of the damage were still being collected.
Friday’s earthquake of magnitude 5.4 struck the southeast at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles), GFZ said, hours after one late on Thursday night.
The week’s first earthquake of magnitude 6, just minutes before midnight on Sunday, was one of Afghanistan’s deadliest, unleashing damage and destruction in the provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar when it struck at a shallow depth of 10 km (6 miles).
