Afghanistan quake kills 12, including 8 from family who had just left Iran

A man digs in the ruins of a building after a fatal earthquake in Kabul province, Afghanistan, on Saturday.

Photo: Xinhua An earthquake that struck Afghanistan overnight killed 12 people, including eight members of the same family, a government official and the Afghan Red Crescent Society said on Saturday.

A neighbour who helped in rescue efforts said that the eight who died, on the outskirts of Kabul, were a refugee family recently returned from neighbouring Iran.

The 5.8-magnitude quake struck at 8.42pm (1612 GMT) on Friday at a depth of 186km (115 miles) at the epicentre in northeastern Badakhshan province, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). “As a result of this earthquake, unfortunately, 12 people were killed and four people were injured,” deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat posted on his official X account.

Mohibullah Niazi, who tried to help save a family in an earthquake on Friday, searches through items piled up at a damaged house in the village of Ittefaq, on the outskirts of Kabul.

Photo: AP He said five houses were completely destroyed and 33 partially damaged in Kabul, Panjshir, Logar, Nangarhar, Laghman and Nuristan provinces, affecting a total of 40 families.

Shaking was felt in many parts of the country, including the capital Kabul, according to Agence France-Presse journalists. “In the Gosfand Dara area of Kabul Province, eight members of a family died as a result of the earthquake,” Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said earlier.

A child aged around two, named Aarash, was the only survivor from that household and Afghanistan’s disaster management agency said he had been injured in the tremor and was in hospital being treated for a head injury. “The other four people have been killed in the west of Kabul,” Afghan Red Crescent Society spokesman Abdul Qadeem Abrar told Agence France-Presse.

The family of eight who died were among millions of Afghan refugees who have recently returned from Iran and Pakistan, after both countries launched crackdowns in 2023 on foreigners, particularly Afghans, living in their countries.

They had arrived 15 days ago and were living in a tent on land next to Mohibullah Niazi’s home.

The family head, Najibullah, who was about 50 years old, “had no other shelter”, Niazi said. “He was a very poor person.” The family had set their tent up next to a wall separating the plot of land from Niazi’s home, which stood on higher ground, in the village of Ittefaq on the eastern outskirts o

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