MAZAR- I- SHARIF: A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck northern Afghanistan overnight killed more than 20 people and injured around 320, the health ministry said Monday.
In the Balkh and Samangan provinces "around 320 countrymen have been injured and more than 20 have been killed," ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said in a video message shared with journalists, specifying that this was a preliminary toll.
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) spokesman Mohammadullah Hamad earlier today said that five people had been killed and 143 wounded in the Samangan province.
"Most of the injured have returned home after receiving treatment," he said in a statement.
The Blue Mosque of Mazar-i-Sharif, a 15th-century landmark famed for its vibrant tiles and one of the country's prominant tourist sites, was also damaged in the quake.
Pieces of the ornate structure, particularly from one of its minarets, broke off and lay scattered across the mosque's grounds.
Poor communication networks and infrastructure in mountainous Afghanistan have hampered disaster responses in the past, preventing authorities for hours or even days from reaching far-flung villages to assess the extent of the damage.
The quake sent residents of Mazar-i-Sharif, one of Afghanistan's largest northern cities, running into the streets due to fears their homes would collapse, an AFP correspondent observed.
Correspondents in the capital Kabul, around 420 kilometres to the south, also said they felt shaking.
It is the latest natural disaster for the Taliban government, which has faced three major deadly earthquakes since taking over Afghanistan in 2021, even as the foreign aid that formed the backbone of the country's economy has dramatically dropped.
In August, a shallow 6.0-magnitude quake in the country's east wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people.
Large tremors in western Herat, near the Iranian border, in 2023, and in eastern Nangarhar province in 2022 killed hundreds and destroyed thousands of homes.
The United Nations and aid agencies have warned hunger is rising among the Afghan population.
The isolated country is suffering from a humanitarian crisis compounded by drought, economic restrictions on the banking sector, and the pushback of millions of Afghan citizens from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.
Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.
Many homes in the predominantly rural country -- devastated by decades of war -- are shoddily built.
It often takes hours or days to travel by steep roads and paths to remote villages, which are often cut off from help during disasters or poor weather.