Afghanistan earthquake kills eight members of same refugee family returning from Iran

A powerful 5.8 magnitude earthquake in northern Afghanistan has claimed the lives of at least eight members of a refugee family on the outskirts of Kabul. The victims, who had recently returned from neighbouring Iran, were killed when the tremor struck on Friday night.

A three-year-old boy, the sole survivor, sustained injuries and is currently receiving hospital treatment in the capital. Mohibullah Niazi, a neighbour who assisted in the rescue efforts, confirmed the family’s tragic fate.

Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, confirmed on Saturday that the overall death toll from the quake had risen to 12, with an additional four people injured. However, the Afghanistan Disaster Management Authority reported a lower figure, stating nine fatalities. The reason for the differing casualty figures was not immediately apparent.

Mr Fitrat also detailed the destruction, noting that five homes were completely destroyed and 33 others significantly damaged, impacting 40 families across the provinces of Kabul, Panjshir, Logar, Nangarhar, Laghman, and Nuristan.

The family near Kabul were among the millions of Afghan refugees who have recently returned from Iran and Pakistan, after both countries launched crackdowns in 2023 on foreigners – particularly Afghans – living in their countries.

They had arrived 15 days ago and were living in a tent on land next to Mr Niazi’s home.

The family head, Najibullah, who was about 50 years old, “had no other shelter”, Mr Niazi said.

“He was a very poor person.”

The family had set their tent up next to a wall separating the plot of land from Mr Niazi’s home, which stood on higher ground, in the village of Ittefaq on the eastern outskirts of the Afghan capital.

Heavy rains over the past several days, which have led to deadly floods in many parts of Afghanistan, had left the ground sodden and soft.

When the earthquake struck, the wall collapsed on the family.

“My daughter shouted to me that a wall had fallen on them. The whole family ran, but there were so many big rocks,” Mr Niazi recounted as he stood at the scene.

“We tried our best.”

On Saturday morning, piles of bricks and mud were all that were left, along with blankets, cooking utensils and other personal belongings salvaged from the rubble and set into a pile.

“For about three minutes, I could hear the voices of these people,” Mr Niazi said.

“But we couldn’t do anything. There were two or three of us, but this was not the work of three people.”

Neighbours soon rushed to help, digging through the mud and rubble with spades and their hands.

They alerted the local Taliban police checkpoint, which sent rescuers and ambulances.

The young boy, Aarash, was pulled out alive but injured, and rushed to hospital.

Health Ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman, who visited the boy on Saturday, said he was being treated for a severe head injury.

For the rest of the family – the father and mother, four daughters aged between 12 and 23, and two sons – it was too late.

The rescuers could only recover their bodies.

Mr Niazi said he had hosted the family in his own home one night.

On Friday, just half an hour before the earthquake struck, he had renewed the offer, telling the family they could spend the night in his own guest room to shelter from the cold and rain.

“But they did not come with me,” he said.

Friday night’s quake had an epicentre in the Hindu Kush mountain range, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) east of the northern city of Kunduz, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre and the US Geological Survey.

The area is roughly 290 kilometres (180 miles) north east of Kabul.

Afghanistan lies in a highly seismically active part of the world, and quakes have caused thousands of deaths in recent years.

Last August, a 6.0 earthquake that struck a remote, mountainous part of eastern Afghanistan killed more than 2,200 people.

Most casualties were in Kunar province, where people typically live in wood and mud-brick houses along steep valleys.

In November, a 6.3 earthquake struck Samangan province in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 27 people and injuring more than 950.

It also damaged historical sites, including Afghanistan’s famed Blue Mosque in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, and the Bagh-e-Jahan Nama Palace in Khulm.

On October 7 2023, a 6.3 quake followed by strong aftershocks in western Afghanistan killed thousands of people.