India’s National Center for Seismology (NCS) reported two earthquakes in Afghanistan on Tuesday. The stronger event measured magnitude 4.5 and occurred at 13:17:35 IST at a shallow depth of 10 km (Lat: 34.53 N, Long: 70.54 E). Earlier, at 14:36:02 IST, a second tremor of magnitude 3.8 struck at a depth of 70 km (Lat: 35.87 N, Long: 69.41 E).
Shallow quakes, like the magnitude 4.5 event, tend to produce stronger ground shaking because seismic waves have less distance to travel before reaching the surface, increasing the risk of damage and casualties in affected areas.
Afghanistan sits along the active collision zone between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. The Hindu Kush is particularly seismically active and regularly experiences earthquakes of varying size. A recent example is the November 4 quake near Mazar-i-Sharif, which the US Geological Survey reported as magnitude 6.3 at roughly 28 km depth; that event killed at least 27 people, injured hundreds and damaged buildings, including a historic mosque.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has warned that recurring seismic activity, together with seasonal floods and landslides, heightens risks for Afghan communities already weakened by decades of conflict and limited development, reducing their capacity to withstand multiple simultaneous hazards.
