Quake strikes Afghanistan, felt in India

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the southeastern region of Afghanistan on Sunday, the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) reported.The quake occurred at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles), according to GFZ, and tremors were also felt across parts of India, including Delhi-NCR.Independent Scientific Organization and provider of real-time earthquake info EMSC on X said that the earthquake occured at 28 km NW of Bāsawul in Afghanistan at local time 23:47:36. Many users took to the social media platform X to share their experiences."Felt the tremors just now in Delhi-NCR. Lasted a few seconds but quite noticeable," one user wrote.Another shared a video showing a ceiling fan shaking during the tremors.— voting_india (@voting_india) Afghanistan has a history of powerful earthquakes, and the Hindu Kush Mountain range is a geologically active area where quakes occur every year, according to the Red Cross. It sits on numerous fault lines between the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates, with a fault line also running directly through Herat.Last month, an earthquake of magnitude 5.5 struck the region at a depth of 87km on August 2. Another earthquake of magnitude 4.2 hit the country on August 6.These frequent earthquakes in Afghanistan cause damage to vulnerable communities, which are already grappling with decades of conflict and under-development and have left them with little resilience to cope with multiple simultaneous shocks. The shallow earthquakes are also more dangerous than deep earthquakes. This is because the seismic waves from shallow earthquakes have a shorter distance to travel to the surface, resulting in stronger ground shaking and potentially more damage to structures and greater casualties.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/pAnBKjU