Earthquake in Afghanistan: An earthquake of magnitude 4.9 on the Richter scale struck Afghanistan on Friday, according to the National Center for Seismology (NCS). The earthquake occurred at a depth of 160 km, as per NCS data. In a post on X, NCS stated, "EQ of M: 4.9, On: 21/03/2025 01:00:57 IST, Lat: 36.48 N, Long: 71.45 E, Depth: 160 Km, Location: Afghanistan.
This came days after an earthquake of magnitude 4.0 had jolted Afghanistan on March 13. As per the NCS, the earthquake occurred at a depth of 10km, making it susceptible to aftershocks. "EQ of M: 4.0, On: 13/03/2025 13:58:36 IST, Lat: 36.69 N, Long: 69.70 E, Depth: 10 Km, Location: Afghanistan," NCS noted.
Afghanistan prone to natural disasters
As per the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Afghanistan remains highly vulnerable to natural disasters, including seasonal flooding, landslides and earthquakes. These frequent earthquakes in Afghanistan cause damage to vulnerable communities, which are already grappling with decades of conflict and under-development and have left them with little resilience to cope with multiple simultaneous shocks, UNOCHA noted.
Afghanistan has a history of powerful earthquakes, and the Hindu Kush Mountain range is a geologically active area where quakes occur every year, according to the Red Cross. Afghanistan sits on numerous fault lines between the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates, with a fault line also running directly through Herat.
When earthquakes strike, their magnitude is important but also their depth, with shallow earthquakes wrecking more damage than those deeper into the Earth. Afghanistan is unfortunately prone to these shallow earthquakes, due to the region's tectonic plates often slipping past one another, as opposed to colliding directly.
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