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12 June 2012| last updated at 01:43PM

Afghan quake traps up to 70: rescue official



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MAZAR-I-SHARIF (Afghanistan): Rescue teams were today struggling to free up to 70 villagers believed to be trapped after a double earthquake destroyed homes in northern Afghanistan, officials said.

 

At least three bodies have been recovered in Burka district, the worst hit  area in the province of Baghlan in the Hindu Kush mountains, authorities said.
   
“We are on the ground. About 22 families estimated at 50 to 70 people are  believed to be trapped under the rubble,” Mohammad Nasir Kohzad, the head of  the local natural disaster response team, told AFP.
 
More rescue teams dispatched from the capital Kabul were on their way to  the disaster-hit village of Mullah Jan, he said. So far six people had been  rescued with injuries, he added.
 
Two shallow quakes hit the region within half an hour on Monday, according  to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
 
The first, with a magnitude of 5.4, struck at 9:32 am (0502 GMT) at a depth  of 15 kilometres (9 miles) with the epicentre around 160 kilometres southwest  of the town of Faizabad.
 
A more powerful tremor, measured at 5.7 magnitude, hit around 25 minutes  later in almost exactly the same place, USGS said.
 
Buildings were felt shaking slightly in Kabul, around 170 kilometres to the  south, during both quakes.
 
Northern Afghanistan and Pakistan are frequently hit by earthquakes,  especially around the Hindu Kush range, which lies near the collision of the  Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
 
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in Pakistan in October 2005 killed 74,000 people  and displaced 3.5 million. -- AFP

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