Earthquake Rocks Afghanistan

The troubles in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region just don't seem to end. After grappling with problems like the Taliban, it's now the turn of a natural disaster to wreak havoc in the tumultuous region.

In the wee hours of the night, an earthquake struck Afghanistan in the Hindu Kush mountain range, shaking buildings and sending grubby-eyed people into a panic stricken frenzy. Showing a reading of 6.2 on the Richter scale, the earthquake had its epicenter located in the mountains, around 167 miles northeast of the capital Kabul. The earthquake struck at around 12:21 a.m. local Afghan time (1951 GMT, Thursday), and lasted for about 30 seconds.

Due to the formidable magnitude of the earthquake, the tremors were felt in the Pakistani cities of Peshawar, Islamabad and Lahore, as well. In fact, sources are still confirming claims of the tremors being felt in certain areas of North-west India bordering Pakistan.

The Afghan Interior Ministry claimed there were no casualties or serious damage of property reported, although, due to the poor communications in the affected area, this could not be confirmed. However, as the region near the epicenter is sparsely populated, authorities are optimistic that casualties will be minimum. Contact with nearby locals was further hampered due to the disruption in electricity supplies of the affected region.

Afghanistan is not new to earthquakes. Geophysicists claim that the region around the Hindu Kush is prone to earthquakes, due to near collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. The strongest recorded earthquake till date to have struck this region was on March 14 1965, which measured 7.8 on the Richter scale.

So, going by statistics, this doesn't look like the end of Afghanistan and Pakistan's problems, but let us hope and pray that the Gods show some mercy on the disturbed region.