By Sayed Hassib
TANGI TASHQURGHAN, Afghanistan (Reuters) -Residents of northern Afghanistan began a clean-up operation on Tuesday after a powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake left at least 20 dead and almost 1,000 injured.
The quake struck near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif early on Monday, killing at least 20 people and damaging the city’s historic Blue Mosque, authorities said.
Some 945 people have been injured, according to the latest figures from United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan.
Hundreds of houses were either completely or partially destroyed, according to the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, a figure that aid groups said was concerning just ahead of the Afghan winter, where temperatures drop below freezing.
On Tuesday, residents in Tangi Tashqurgan, an area close to the quake epicentre, were digging out rubble and reinforcing affected buildings.
Mohammad Yasin, a local shopkeeper, said dozens of structures had been damaged or destroyed in the quake.
“If you go inside the shops, you feel afraid they might collapse any moment, maybe now or in 10 minutes,” he said.
The disaster is the latest challenge for Afghanistan’s Taliban administration, already grappling with crises including an earthquake in August that killed thousands in the east of the country, a sharp drop in foreign aid and mass deportations of Afghan refugees by neighbouring countries.
The United Nations has pledged assistance, along with India, which is seeking to thaw ties with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, which is still under sanctions from many Western nations. China said on Tuesday it would also offer aid.
Hemmed in by rugged mountains, Afghanistan is prone to a range of natural disasters, but its earthquakes cause the most fatalities, killing about 560 people on average each year and causing annual damage estimated at $80 million.
Rudimentary building quality also contributes to the casualty figures, with experts recommending new structures be built in an earthquake-resistant way and existing buildings be retrofitted to reduce the chances of collapse.
(Reporting by Syed Hassib in Tangi Tashqurghan and Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul;Writing by Alasdair Pal;Editing by Alison Williams)
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