Sat, 07:52 27 Sep 2008 GMT17

 

Quake rattles Afghanistan, casualties feared
06 Sep 2008 06:54:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Recasts, changes dateline and slug from earlier PAKISTAN-QUAKE)

KABUL Sept 6 (Reuters) - An earthquake measuring 5.6 struck Afghanistan's Hindu Kush region on Saturday and officials said they expected casualties.

The quake, centred 275 km (170 miles) northeast of Kabul, was also felt across parts of northern Pakistan and India, including the respective capitals Islamabad and New Delhi, reporters said.

"The quake was very strong and lasted for 10 seconds. We are expecting casualties because the earthquake was very strong but at the moment we don't have any reports," Munshi Abdul Majid, the governor of the northern Afghan province of Badakhshan, where the epicentre was located, told Reuters.

The U.S. Geological Survey said on its website the quake's magnitude was 5.6 and the epicentre was at a depth of 177 km (110 miles) and 65 km (40 miles) south of the city of Faizabad.

"All my colleagues ran out of office," a Reuters reporter in northeastern Kunar province said.

About 73,000 people were killed in northern Pakistan by a powerful earthquake in October 2005. (Reporting by Tahir Qadiry; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by David Fogarty)
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Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai pauses during remarks about overcoming his country's security problems at a forum at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, September 26, 2008. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES) ...



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