Earthquake in Eastern Afghanistan Injures 10 People

Earthquake in Eastern Afghanistan Injures 10 People
Ruins of houses damaged after an earthquake in Gayan district, Paktika province, Afghanistan, on June 24, 2022. AFP via Getty Images
The Associated Press
Updated:

ISLAMABAD—An earthquake shook a remote area of eastern Afghanistan on Monday, injuring at least 10 people, a Taliban official said. It struck in the same region where an earthquake last month killed hundreds of people and caused widespread devastation.

The U.S. Geological Survey said Monday’s earthquake had a magnitude of 5.1.

Abdul Wahid Rayan, director of the Taliban news agency Bakhtar, said the quake struck in the Gayan district of the eastern Paktika province.

Last month’s more powerful earthquake ignited yet another crisis in the struggling country, further underscoring the Taliban’s limited capabilities and isolation. U.N. officials said at the time that 770 people were killed, while the Taliban put the death toll at 1,150.

Overstretched aid groups already keeping millions of Afghans alive had rushed supplies to victims of the June quake, but most countries responded tepidly to Taliban calls for international help.

The international cut-off of Afghanistan’s financing has deepened the country’s economic collapse and fueled its humanitarian crises.