Afghan Earthquake Triggers Landslide, Scores Trapped

Afghanistan officials said on Monday that some 70 people were trapped in rubble after mud houses collapsed from two strong earthquakes.

The earthquakes also triggered a landslide in the mountains of northern Afghanistan, officials added.

A remote village in Baghlan province appeared to have taken the brunt of the damage, the provincial police chief said, adding that information was trickling in slowly from the site.

Asadullah Shirzad said more than 70 people were trapped in Dara Azara village, but he had no information about casualties so far.

“We have sent a rescue team. There is no report of the dead or people wounded yet.”

A quake measuring 5.4 struck the Hindu Kush region followed by a 5.7 aftershock, the U.S.Geological Survey said. It was centred 174 km north of Kabul, where the quake was also felt.

One woman has been rescued from the area, said Ghulam Farooq, head of the disaster operation centre in Kabul.

He said 22 houses had been destroyed and most of those missing were women and children.(Reuters/NAN)