At least eight dead after earthquake hits Afghanistan and Pakistan

At least eight people are dead, and a child injured, after a 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan late on Friday.

The eight dead and injured child are all members of the same family and were involved in a house collapse, Hafizullah Basharat, a spokesman for the Kabul governor, said.

The earthquake struck Afghanistan's Hindu Kush region at a depth of 110 miles (177km), according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences.

Provincial health authorities in the country have been put on alert.

Strong tremors were also felt in Pakistan's ‌capital, Islamabad.

The region is highly seismically active, with earthquakes causing thousands of deaths in recent years.

Last August, a 6.0 earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed more than 1,400 people, and injured at least 3,250 others - destroying villages and trapping people under rubble.

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Most of the casualties in that disaster were in the country's 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.

While in 2023, thousands were killed when a 6.3 quake, followed by strong aftershocks, rocked western Afghanistan.

(c) Sky News 2026: At least eight dead after earthquake hits Afghanistan and Pakistan