Magnitude 6.5 Earthquake in Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, results in at least 19 deaths.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 6.5 Earthquake at a depth of 187.6 km, roughly 4 km to the southeast of the town of  Jurm, in Badakhshan Province in northeast Afghanistan, slightly after 9.15 pm local time (slightly after 4.45 pm GMT) on Tuesday 21 March 2023. The Earthquake was felt across a wide area of South and Central Asia, from northern India though northeast Pakistan, eastern Afghanistan, and parts of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Over 300 people have been injured and at least 19 killed, 10 in Afghanistan and 9 in Pakistan, following the event, which triggered numerous landslides and many buildings to collapse.

Damage to homes in Alishing District in Laghman Province, Afghanistan, following a Magnitude 6.5 Earthquake on 21 March 2023. Shafiullah Kakar/AFP/Getty Images.

The boundary between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates runs close to northern Afghanistan. The Indian Plate is moving northward relative to the Eurasian Plate, causing folding and uplift along this boundary, which has led to the formation of the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan, the Himalayas and the other mountain ranges of Central Asia., and which makes the nations in this boundary zone prone to Earthquakes.

Plate boundaries and movements beneath southern Pakistan, Iran and the Arabian Sea. University of Southampton.

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