The World Health Organization is among those to dispatch emergency response teams to the Herat district in Afghanistan following a pair of magnitude 6.3 earthquakes on Saturday. Photo courtesy of the World Health Organization/Twitter
More than 2,000 people have died after a pair of magnitude-6.3 earthquakes rocked western Afghanistan, a Taliban spokesperson said on Sunday.
Spokesperson Zabihullah Mojahid said 2,053 people have died and more than 1,240 are injured, CNN reported. At least six villages have been impacted in the Herat Province. Advertisement
The death toll rose sharply from an early assessment by the United Nations. It originally reported that about 100 people were killed and another 500 injured.
Abdul Wahid Rayan, spokesman at the Ministry of Information and Culture, also said the number of deaths is higher than first reported, according to ABC News.
The first earthquake struck at 11:11 a.m. on Saturday local time, about 20 miles north-northeast of Zinda Jan. The second earthquake followed 30 minutes later near the same location in the Hindu Kush mountain range.
There was also a magnitude-5.5 earthquake that was felt between the larger quakes, along with a magnitude-5.9 aftershock that followed.
At least eight aftershocks were recorded in the Herat Province within a five-hour span, the World Health Organization reports. WHO sent 12 ambulances and a mobile response team to the Zindah Jan district.
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.@WHO extends our thoughts to the people of Herat, @Afghanistan who have been affected by the earthquake today. We have sent medicines & medical supplies to the hospitals to support treatment of those wounded. Our warehouse is ready to deploy for additional medicines as needed. pic.twitter.com/2WkDBophEc— WHO Afghanistan (@WHOAfghanistan) October 7, 2023
