Several countries as well as the European Union have offered their condolences after a powerful earthquake struck northern Afghanistan, killing 20 people and injuring hundreds, according to official reports.
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The country’s national disaster management authority said 20 people have died and 643 were wounded, revising down earlier figures reported by the state-run news agency Bakhtar, which had put the death toll of the overnight quake at 27, with more than 700 injured.
Pakistan, India, Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom on Monday expressed their sympathies for the loss of life and the people of Afghanistan.
Hadja Lahbib, the EU’s Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, called the news “heartbreaking”, saying the bloc “stands in solidarity with the Afghan people”.
“Our EU humanitarian staff & partners on the ground are assessing the needs to provide support,” she wrote on X.
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Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar announced aid deliveries. Neighbouring Iran also expressed its readiness to participate in search and rescue operations for the victims.
The worst-affected area was Balkh province, according to authorities. A resident of the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, speaking to state-run television RTA at the hospital, said he had not experienced a tremor of this intensity before. He said he had to jump out of a window, breaking his leg.