The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake at a depth of 9 km, roughly 28 km to the northeast of the city of Herat in northeast Afghanistan, slightly after 5.10 am local time (slightly after 12. 40 am GMT) on Wednesday 11 October 2023. The event is reported to have led to at least one death and 150 injuries, and occurred only four days after another Earthquake of similar Magnitude to the northeast of Herat, which is now known to have killed over 2000 people, and which has left hospital supplies in the region dangerously low. Building collapses are a particular danger in Afghanistan as many buildings are made of mud bricks, which can liquify in Earthquakes, forming a fine dust which asphyxiates people trapped beneath fallen structures.
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.See also...
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