Page 16 - Earthquake

Why does western Nepal region face threat of a bigger earthquake?

Situated on the precarious Himalayan seismic zone, Nepal is a highly earthquake-prone country and its quake-battered western mountainous region is likely to face a threat of a bigger earthquake, a seismologist says. According to the government's post-disaster needs assessment (PDNA) report, Nepal is the 11th most earthquake-prone country in the world. So, when a powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal's remote western mountainous region late on Friday night, it was not the first one for the day or for this month. The earthquake in western Nepal just before midnight on Friday was the latest in a long list of over 70 quakes in the country in 2023, official data showed. At least 140 people died in the powerful temblor with its epicentre in Jajarkot district, about 500 km northwest of Kathmandu, invoking the painful memories of the devastating 2015 earthquake. There has been a collision between Indian and Eurasian plates going on underground for a long time which has accumulated ..

128 dead as strong earthquake of 6.4 magnitude rocks northwestern Nepal

A strong earthquake shook northwestern Nepal districts just before midnight Friday, and officials said at least 69 people were dead and dozens more injured as rescuers searched mountain villages. Officials said early Saturday that the toll was expected to rise, noting that communications were cut off with many places. The quake, which hit when many people already were asleep in their homes, was felt in India's capital, New Delhi, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 and occurred at a depth of 11 miles. Nepal's National Earthquake Monitoring & Research Center said its epicentre was at Jajarkot, which is about 250 miles northeast of the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu. The quake killed at least 35 people in Rukum district, where numerous houses collapsed, police official Narvaraj Bhattarai said over the telephone. Thirty injured people already had been brought to the local hospital, Bhattarai said. In

Latest LIVE updates: Strong earthquake tremors felt across Delhi-NCR

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Strong earthquake of magnitude 6.4 jolts Nepal, tremors felt in north India

A strong earthquake of magnitude 6.4 jolted Nepal on Friday night with tremors reverberating through parts of north India, including Delhi NCR, the National Centre for Seismology said. The epicentre of the quake was in Nepal at a depth of 10 km, the NCS said. People in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) felt strong tremors and rushed out of their homes. This is the third time in a month that strong quakes have struck Nepal.

Strong earthquake shakes Timor region of Indonesia, no deaths reported

An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck Indonesia's Timor island on Thursday, causing panic and light damages to several buildings and houses but there no immediate reports of casualties. The US Geological Survey reported the quake had a depth of 36.1 kilometers (22.4 miles) and its epicenter was located 21 kilometers (13 miles) north-northeast of Kupang, the capital city of East Nusa Tenggara province. Daryono, who heads the Earthquake and Tsunami Center at Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency, said the land-based quake was causing panic as it was strongly felt in several cities and villages. The agency measured a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 for the quake and then revised it to 6.3. Variations in early measurements of quakes are common. The USGS reported that the quake had a magnitude of 6.1. The quake has caused light damages in several buildings and houses, wrote Daryono, who goes by a single name, on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter,

6.1 magnitude earthquake hits Kathmandu Valley, no casualty reported

An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale on Sunday hit Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. According to the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre, the earthquake with epicentre in Dhading district was recorded at 7:39 am. There was no report of any death or damage resulting from the tremor. The jolt was also felt in other districts of Bagmati and Gandaki provinces. Earthquakes are common in Nepal which is situated on the ridge where the Tibetan and Indian tectonic plates meet and advance two meters closer to one another every century which results in pressure which is released in the form of earthquakes. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake and subsequent aftershocks killed around 9,000 people in 2015. As the government's post-disaster needs assessment (PDNA) report noted, Nepal is the 11th most earthquake-prone country in the world.

World Food Programme appeals for $19 mn for food in quake-hit Afghanistan

The United Nations' World Food Programme on Wednesday appealed for USD 19 million to provide emergency assistance to tens of thousands of people affected by a series of devastating earthquakes and aftershocks that has rocked western Afghanistan. Ana Maria Salhuana, deputy country director of the World Food Programme in Afghanistan, said it was helping survivors but it urgently needed more funding because "we are having to take this food from an already severely underfunded programme". The group said it is working to provide emergency food assistance to 100,000 people in the region. Disasters like these earthquakes pound communities who are already barely able to feed themselves back into utter destitution," the WFP said. A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck part of western Afghanistan on Sunday, after thousands of people died and entire villages were flattened by major quakes a week earlier. It was the fourth quake the US Geological Survey has measured at 6.3 magnitude in the same are

Afghanistan hit by 3rd earthquake in a week

A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck western Afghanistan on Sunday, just over a week after strong quakes and aftershocks left thousands of people dead and flattened entire villages

LIVE: Earthquake of magnitude 3.1 strikes Faridabad in Haryana at 4.08 pm

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Powerful quake shakes west Afghanistan again a week after killing thousands

A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck western Afghanistan on Sunday, just over a week after strong quakes and aftershocks killed thousands of people and flattened entire villages in the same region. The U.S. Geological Survey said the latest quake's epicenter was about 34 kilometers (21 miles) outside Herat, the provincial capital, and eight kilometers (five miles) below the surface. There were no immediate official reports of possible casualties or damage. The earthquakes on Oct. 7 flattened whole villages in Herat, in one of the most destructive quakes in the country's recent history. More than 90% of the people killed a week ago were women and children, U.N. officials reported Thursday. Taliban officials said the earlier quakes killed more than 2,000 people across the province. The epicenter was in Zenda Jan district, where 1,294 people died, 1,688 were injured and every home was destroyed, according to U.N. figures. The initial quake, numerous aftershocks and a second ..

UAE sends urgent relief aid to people affected by earthquake in Afghanistan

The shipment was sent on Saturday, and included food parcels and 500 tents, is in line with the UAE's efforts to diversify its humanitarian aid to meet the needs of thousands of people affected

Over 90% of people killed by Afghanistan quake were women and children: UN

More than 90 per cent of the people killed by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in western Afghanistan last weekend were women and children, U.N. officials reported Thursday. Taliban officials said Saturday's earthquake killed more than 2,000 people of all ages and genders across Herat province. The epicentre was in Zenda Jan district, where 1,294 people died, 1,688 were injured and every home was destroyed, according to U.N. figures. Women and children were more likely to have been at home when the quake struck in the morning, said Siddig Ibrahim, the chief of the UNICEF field office in Herat. When the first earthquake hit, people thought it was an explosion, and they ran into their homes, he said. Hundreds of people, mostly women, remain missing in Zenda Jan. The Afghanistan representative for the United Nations Population Fund, Jaime Nadal, said there would have been no gender dimension to the death toll if the quake had happened at night. At that time of the day, men were out in the

Over 90% of people killed in Afghanistan quake were women, children: UN

More than 90 per cent of the people killed by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in western Afghanistan last weekend were women and children, UN officials reported Thursday. Taliban officials said Saturday's earthquake killed more than 2,000 people of all ages and genders across Herat province. The epicenter was in Zenda Jan district, where 1,294 people died, 1,688 were injured and every home was destroyed, according to UN figures. Women and children were more likely to have been at home when the quake struck in the morning, said Siddig Ibrahim, the chief of the UNICEF field office in Herat, said. When the first earthquake hit, people thought it was an explosion, and they ran into their homes, he said. Hundreds of people, mostly women, remain missing in Zenda Jan. The Afghanistan representative for the United Nations Population Fund, Jaime Nadal, said there would have been no gender dimension to the death toll if the quake had happened at night. At that time of the day, men were out in th

LIVE updates: 11 UN staff, 30 pupils at UN schools, killed in Gaza

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Another massive earthquake strikes Afghanistan: What we know so far

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan on October 11, in an area where tremors killed over 2,400 just days ago. Watch the video to know the details.

6.3 magnitude earthquake shakes part of western Afghanistan again

Another strong earthquake has shaken part of western Afghanistan where a quake on Saturday killed more than 2,000. The 6.3-magnitude earthquake Wednesday morning was about 28 kilometers outside the capital of Herat province, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The earlier quake that struck Herat was also 6.3 magnitude and has been followed by several strong aftershocks.

Afghanistan earthquake death toll over 4000, nearly 2,000 houses destroyed

The Ministry of Disaster Management of Afghanistan has announced that on Saturday that 1,983 residential houses have also been destroyed in 20 villages in Herat

Afghans still hope to find survivors from earthquake that killed over 2,000

Clinging to hope that finding survivors was still possible, Afghan rescuers and villagers kept digging through rubble on Tuesday in western Herat province, three days after one of the deadliest earthquakes in the region left more than 2,000 dead. Elsewhere in Herat, people were digging graves for their loved ones killed in Saturday's 6.3 magnitude quake. On a barren field in the district of Zinda Jan, a bulldozer removed mounds of earth to clear space for a long row of graves. The epicenter was about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the city of Herat, the provincial capital, the US Geological Survey said. Several of the aftershocks have been strong, including one on Monday that again caused residents of the city to rush out of their homes. It is very difficult to find a family member from a destroyed house and a few minutes to later bury him or her in a nearby grave, again under the ground, said Mir Agha, from the city of Herat who had joined hundreds of volunteers to help the

Morocco welcomes annual meeting of IMF, WB a month after its deadly quake

Less than a two-hour drive from where families sleep in tents and earthquake rubble remain in piles, the world's most powerful financial institutions are gathering for a week of discussions on economic challenges during times of war, inequality and climate change. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank decided in 2018 to host their annual meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, bringing the affair to the African continent for the first time in 50 years. Their original timeline was delayed by the pandemic, but the meeting beginning Monday arrives at an apropos time. After a devastating earthquake last month killed nearly 3,000 and wreaked USD 11.7 billion in damages, both officials and civil society groups are eagerly anticipating discussions about how to promote economic resiliency in light of natural disaster. In no other area is the need for international cooperation as evident as in addressing the existential threat of climate change. The world has a responsibility to stand with

Death toll from strong earthquakes that shook Afghanistan rises to 2,000

A powerful magnitude-6.3 earthquake followed by strong aftershocks killed dozens of people in western Afghanistan on Saturday, the country's national disaster authority said. The United Nations gave a preliminary figure of 320 dead, but later said the figure was still being verified. Local authorities gave an estimate of 100 people killed and 500 injured, according to the same update from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The update also said 465 houses had been reported destroyed and a further 135 were damaged. Partners and local authorities anticipate the number of casualties to increase as search and rescue efforts continue amid reports that some people may be trapped under collapsed buildings, the U.N. said. Disaster authority spokesperson Mohammad Abdullah Jan said four villages in the Zenda Jan district in Herat province bore the brunt of the quake and aftershocks. The United States Geological Survey said the quake's epicentre was about 40 kilomet