Quake rattles eastern Afghanistan: 5 killed

Tears roll down the face of an injured Kashmiri girls as she gets her wound dressed at a makeshift medical camp in Muzaffarabad yesterday. New aftershocks rattled quake-hit northern Pakistan as aid trickled into the mountainous region and relief agencies struggled to reach cut-off survivors before winter.. PHOTO: AFP

Initial reports also said some houses were destroyed in the quake that struck mountainous Paktika province at about 6:30 am (0200 GMT), ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told a press briefing.

"Our national army units are in the region assessing the damage. They're on the ground helping villagers," he said.

Another quake struck adjacent Zabul province on Friday, killing at least three people, provincial officials said.

Afghanistan was spared the devastation caused by a massive October 8 earthquake that left more than 53,000 people dead and more than 75,000 injured in northwestern Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir.

Several Afghans were killed in that quake, which shook the east of the country and the capital, Kabul.

Pakistan has been jolted by more than 700 aftershocks since the 7.6-magnitude earthquake, including two early Sunday, a seismological department official said. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the latest tremors.

War-shattered Afghanistan does not have a meteorological agency that can provide information about the scale of earthquakes.

In Muzaffarabad new aftershocks rattled quake-hit northern Pakistan yesterday as aid trickled into the mountainous region and relief agencies struggled to reach cut-off survivors before winter.

An aftershock measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale was felt at 5:44 am (0044 GMT) in Mansehra town, which has become a refuge for thousands of survivors from more badly devastated towns and villages in the Kashmiri mountains.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the latest tremor, one of more than 700 which have shaken the region since the 7.6-magnitude October 8 quake killed more than 53,000 people and left more than three million homeless.

But at least five people were reportedly killed in neighbouring Afghanistan when an earthquake struck eastern Paktika province, bordering Pakistan, around dawn, the Afghan defence ministry said.

"We don't know exactly the scale of the damage. Afghan National Army troops are on the ground helping villagers," ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told a press briefing.