At least six killed in Afghanistan earthquake

At least six people were killed and nine others injured after an earthquake in eastern Afghanistan overnight, an official said on Monday.

The 5.3-magnitude temblor that hit districts along the eastern border with Pakistan comes less than three months after a powerful quake killed more than 1,000 people, also along the same frontier.

The latest quake was felt in the provinces of Kunar, Laghman and Nangarhar, and in the capital Kabul.

"We are collecting information from other areas regarding casualties and damages," deputy minister for disaster management Sharafuddin Muslim told AFP.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes -- especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

On June 22, the country's deadliest earthquake in over two decades -- of magnitude 5.9 -- killed more than 1,000 people and injured thousands.

In 2015, about 380 people were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake ripped across the two countries.

In recent months Afghanistan has also been hit by flash floods that have killed about 200 people and destroyed thousands of homes.

Such disasters pose a huge logistical challenge for Afghanistan's Taliban government, which has isolated itself from much of the world by introducing hardline Islamist rule.

Magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes southwest China: USGS
Beijing (AFP) Sept 5, 2022 - A 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck southwestern China on Monday, according to the US Geological Survey.

The quake hit around 43 kilometres (26 miles) southeast of the city of Kangding in Sichuan province at a depth of 10 kilometres, the USGS said.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties.

Tremors were felt in the nearby megacity of Chengdu, a resident told AFP.

"I felt it quite strongly," a woman surnamed Chen said. "Some of my neighbours on the ground floor said they felt it very clearly."

Earthquakes are fairly common in China, especially in the country's seismically active southwest.

At least four people were killed and dozens more injured after two earthquakes hit southwestern China in June.

On that occasion, a shallow 6.1-magnitude quake hit a sparsely populated area about 100 kilometres west of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan with a population of 21 million.

It was followed three minutes later by a second quake of magnitude 4.5 in a nearby county where the deaths and injuries occurred.

A magnitude 8.0 quake in 2008 in Sichuan's Wenchuan county cost tens of thousands of lives and caused enormous damage.

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Strong quake hits off coast of Indonesia's South Sumatra
Jakarta (AFP) Aug 23, 2022
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