KABUL: A 5.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked eastern Afghanistan including the capital Kabul has resulted in only minor damage and one reported injury, a disaster official told AFP on Saturday.
The quake hit on Friday just as people in the Muslim-majority country were sitting down to break their Ramadan fast.
The epicentre was near several remote villages around 130 kilometres (80 miles) northeast of Kabul, the United States Geological Survey said. “There aren’t any serious casualties or damages after yesterday’s earthquake,” said Mohammad Yousuf Hamad, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Authority.
He added that one person had sustained “a minor injury in Takhar”, in Afghanistan’s north, “and three houses had minor damage in Laghman” province. Zilgay Talabi, a resident of Khenj district near the epicentre, said the tremor was “very strong, it went on for almost 30 seconds”.
Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.
