ISLAMABAD (AP) – An earthquake shook a remote area of eastern Afghanistan on Monday, injuring at least 10 people, a Taleban official said. It struck in the same region where an earthquake last month killed hundreds of people and caused widespread devastation.
The United States Geological Survey said Monday’s earthquake had a magnitude of 5.1.
Director of the Taleban news agency Bakhtar Abdul Wahid Rayan said the quake struck in the Gayan district of the eastern Paktika province.
Last month’s more powerful earthquake ignited yet another crisis in the struggling country, further underscoring the Taleban’s limited capabilities and isolation.
United Nations officials said at the time that 770 people were killed, while the Taleban put the death toll at 1,150.
Overstretched aid groups already keeping millions of Afghans alive had rushed supplies to victims of the June quake, but most countries responded tepidly to Taleban calls for help.
The international cut-off of Afghanistan’s financing has deepened the country’s economic collapse and fuelled its humanitarian crises.
