A powerful mangitude-6.3 earthquake has rocked northern Afghanistan, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said.
The earthquake struck early Monday at a depth of 28 kilometers (17 miles) some 22 kilometers from Kholm, near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to the USGS.
Kholm is home to around 65,000 people, while about 523,000 live in Mazar-i-Sharif.
What else do we know about the earthquake?
In Mazar-i-Sharif, many people ran into the street in the middle of the night, fearing their homes might collapse, a correspondent for French news agency AFP reported.
The extent of any casualties or damage is was not immediately unclear. Afghanistan’s national disaster management agency said on X that information would be shared later.
USGS has issued an orange alert on its automated PAGER system, which means “significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread.”
Monday’s earthquake comes just two months after a magnitude-6.0 quake struck in Afghanistan’s east, killing more than 2,200 people.
Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.
Edited by: Karl Sexton
