Hundreds of people have been killed in Afghanistan’s deadliest earthquake in some 20 years.
The magnitude 5.9 tremor in the early hours of Wednesday flattened hundreds of homes in the southeastern provinces of Paktika and Khost, killing at least 920 people and injuring some 600.
Afghanistan has a long history of earthquakes, many in the mountainous Hindu Kush region bordering Pakistan.
Below is a list of powerful quakes that have caused fatalities over the past 30 years:
- 1991, Hindu Kush: An earthquake in the rugged Hindu Kush killed 848 people across Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Soviet Union.
- 1997, Qayen: A magnitude 7.2 earthquake on the border of Afghanistan and Iran killed more than 1,500 people in both countries, and completely destroyed more than 10,000 homes.
- February 1998, Takhar: The earthquake in the remote northeastern province of Takhar killed at least 2,300 people, with some estimates ranging as high as 4,000.
- May 1998, Takhar: Another tremor of magnitude 6.6 in the same region killed 4,700.
- 2002, Hindu Kush: Twin earthquakes in the Hindu Kush in March 2002 killed a total of 1,100.
- 2015, Hindu Kush: A magnitude7.5 earthquake, one of the most powerful in Afghanistan’s recorded history, killed a total of 399 people in Afghanistan and neighbours Pakistan and India.
- January 2022, Badghis: Shallow earthquake in Qadis district in the western province of Badghis killed at least 26.
