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The quake occurred two months after the worst earthquake in Afghanistan’s recent history, which killed thousands of people.
Published November 2, 2025
A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake has struck northern Afghanistan, two months after an earthquake killed thousands in the poor country’s east, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
The USGS said an earthquake struck Kholm, near the city of Mazar-e-Sharif in the Hindu Kush region, at 12:59 a.m. local time (20:29 GMT) on the night between Sunday and Monday, at a revised depth of 28 kilometers (17 miles). A correspondent for AFP news agency based in the capital, Kabul, felt the same way.
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The agency originally pegged the depth at 10km (6 miles).
Local authorities broadcast an emergency number for people to call, but did not immediately report any deaths or injuries.
In Mazar-e-Sharif, many people rushed to the streets in the middle of the night, fearing that their houses would collapse, an AFP correspondent observed.
Taliban authorities have been forced to respond to several major earthquakes since returning to power in 2021, including one in the western province of Herat on the border with Iran in 2023, which killed more than 1,500 people and destroyed more than 63,000 homes.
On August 31 this year, a shallow magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the eastern part of the country, killing more than 2,200 people. This became the deadliest earthquake in recent Afghan history.
Earthquakes are common in the country, especially along the Hindu Kush Mountains, where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.
After decades of war, Afghanistan is grappling with multiple crises, including endemic poverty, severe drought and an influx of millions of Afghans forced to return home by neighboring Pakistan and Iran.
Many of Afghanistan’s modest homes are poorly built and infrastructure is poor, hampering rescue efforts during earthquakes and other natural disasters.
Since 1900, north-eastern Afghanistan has been hit by 12 earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or higher, said Brian Bapty, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey.
