An ambulance transports earthquake victims to a hospital in Saidu Sharif, Pakistan's Swat Valley, on March 21. (Photo: AP)
The tremors of the earthquake were felt in many cities in Pakistan as well as as far away as the Indian capital New Delhi.
The 6.5-magnitude quake has forced people in towns across northern Afghanistan and Pakistan to flee their homes as it damaged buildings and triggered landslides.
The quake's epicenter was 40 kilometers (24 miles) southeast of the Afghan town of Jurm in the Hindu Kush mountain range at a depth of 187.6 kilometers (116 miles), the US Geological Survey said.
In Laghman province, northeastern Afghanistan, at least two people were killed and about eight others injured, according to Shafiullah Rahimi, a spokesman for the country's disaster management ministry.
At least nine people, including two children, were killed when homes and other buildings collapsed in the province, according to Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA). At least 44 other people were injured in the province.
Images from Saidu Sharif, a town in Pakistan's Swat Valley, showed ambulances transporting earthquake victims to hospitals, while crowds gathered outside.
Rescue workers and residents gather at the hospital where earthquake victims were brought, in Saidu Sharif, March 21. (Photo: AP)
A representative of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Rescue Service said the following landslides blocked roads in the northern city of Abbotabad.
Despite the deep epicenter, strong tremors were felt across the region. CNN reporters at the scene felt the tremors linger in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, and people were seen evacuating their homes as trees shook. Some Islamabad residents said cracks had appeared in the walls of their homes.
Witnesses in Lahore told CNN they also felt tremors there, while some felt the ground shake in New Delhi and in Srinagar, the largest city in Indian-administered Kashmir. physical.
The quake comes less than a year after a deadly earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan in June 2022, killing more than 1,000 people and injuring many more, exacerbating an already existing humanitarian crisis. serious in this country.
Afghanistan has a long history of earthquakes, many of which occur in the Hindu Kush mountains bordering Pakistan.