Death Toll From Pakistan, Afghanistan Quake Rises to 21

Police officers and people gather at a hospital where earthquake victims are brought in Saidu Sharif, a town Pakistan's Swat valley, on March 21, 2023. Naveed Ali/AP Photo

ISLAMABAD—The death toll from a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that struck much of Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan earlier this week rose to 21 on Thursday, after eight more deaths were reported in remote areas, officials said.

Ten died in Afghanistan and 11 in Pakistan after the temblor rattled this South Asian region late on Tuesday. More than more than 130 people were reported injured when roofs of hundreds of homes collapsed.

Most of the damage was reported in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan.

Rescue worker unload earthquake victims from an ambulance at a hospital in Saidu Sharif, a town Pakistan's Swat valley, on March 21, 2023. Naveed Ali/AP Photo

Shafiullah Rahimi, a Taliban spokesperson, said the quake killed 10 there and injured 60. He said 800 houses were damaged across Afghanistan.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the epicenter of the magnitude 6.5 quake was 40 kilometers (25 miles) south-southeast of the district of Jurm in Afghanistan’s mountainous Hindukush region, bordering Pakistan and Tajikistan. The quake struck 188 kilometers (116 miles) deep below the Earth’s surface.

The region is prone to violent seismic upheavals. A magnitude 7.6 quake in 2005 killed thousands of people in Pakistan and disputed Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan.