Kabul. More than 2,000 people were killed in earthquakes in Afghanistan and more than 9,000 injured, the Taliban administration said on Sunday, in the deadliest tremors to rock the quake-prone mountainous country in years.
The Saturday quakes in the west of the country hit 35 km (20 miles) northwest of the city of Herat, with one measuring 6.3 magnitude, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.
They were among the world’s deadliest quakes in a year when tremors in Turkey and Syria killed an estimated 50,000 in February.
Mullah Janan Sayeeq, spokesman for the Ministry of Disasters, said 2,053 people were dead, 9,240 injured and 1,320 houses damaged or destroyed. The death toll spiked from 500 reported in the morning by the Red Crescent and 16 from Saturday night.
Ten rescue teams were in the area of the province, which borders Iran, Sayeeq told a press conference. -Reuters
