Second Powerful Quake Jolts Western Afghanistan

A powerful earthquake registering a magnitude of 6.3 struck western Afghanistan on Sunday, after a series of tremors this week brought wide-spread destruction.

It comes a week after a series of intense seismic events and aftershocks that claimed the lives of thousands and razed entire villages in the same region.

The quake was also felt in eastern regions of Iran including the religious city of Mashhahd.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the epicenter of the earthquake was approximately 34 kilometers beyond Herat, the provincial capital, and reached a depth of eight kilometers below the surface. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale.

As of midday local time there were no official reports about casualties and damage.

The earthquakes that occurred on October 7 had catastrophic consequences, completely decimating villages in Herat, marking one of the most devastating seismic events in the nation's recent history.

Tragically, more than 90% of the individuals who lost their lives were women and children, according to UN officials.

Taliban officials said that the earthquakes last week claimed the lives of over 2,000 people across the province. The epicenter was situated in the Zenda Jan district, where UN data indicates that 1,294 people lost their lives, and 1,688 sustained injuries.

The 6.3-magnitude quake demolished hundreds of mud-brick homes that were ill-equipped to withstand such powerful tremors. Schools, health clinics, and other vital village facilities also crumbled.

Survivors grapple with the profound loss of multiple family members, and in many places, the number of volunteers who have arrived to sift through the debris and excavate mass graves now exceeds the remaining residents.