More than 800 people are dead and over 1,500 injured after an earthquake of magnitude 6 struck the rugged eastern region of Afghanistan, the region’s latest instance of increased seismic activity.

Here are previous such disasters of recent years in the Afgha­nistan-Pakistan region which lies at the intersection of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.

• A magnitude 5.6 quake hit Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region on Aug 27.

• A magnitude 5.2 earthquake hit Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region on Aug 19, at a depth of 186 km.

• A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck central Pakistan on June 29, with its epicenter at a depth of 149 km.

• A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Pakistan on May 10, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.

• Quakes of magnitude 5.6 and 5.8 hit the Hindu Kush and Afghanistan-Tajikistan border regions, on April 16 and 19, respectively.

• A magnitude 5 earthquake struck Pakistan on April 12, at a depth of 39 km.

• Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi has been hit by several moderate or minor tremors in March and June.

2024

• A magnitude 5.5 earthquake hit the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on Oct 17.

• An earthquake of magnitude 5.75 struck Pakistan at a depth of 10km on Sept 11.

• Earthquakes of magnitude 5.5 and 5.8 struck Pakistan bet­ween March 19 and March 20.

• An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 hit northwestern Kashmir on Feb 19.

• A magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on Jan 11.

• A magnitude 5 earthquake hit the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region on Jan 5

2023

• An earthquake of magnitude 5.3 hit the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region on Nov 15.

• Many died as multiple earthquakes rattled Afghanistan in October.

• On August 6, an earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hit the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border.

• Earthquakes of magnitude 5.6 and 5.7 hit the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on May 3 and on Aug 5, respectively.

• An earthquake of magnitude 6.5 hit northern Afghanistan in late March, killing at least 13.

• A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on Jan 5.

2022

• An earthquake of magnitude 4.3 hit southeastern Afghanistan on December 16.

• Over Sept 5 and 6, at least two earthquakes struck Afghanistan, with one killing at least eight.

• A magnitude 5.6 quake struck Pakistan’s southwestern region on Aug 1.

• A magnitude 6 earthquake in Afghanistan killed more than 1,000 people in June.

• A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan on Feb 5.

• An earthquake of magnitude 5.6, at a depth of 30km, hit western Afghanistan on Jan 17.

2021

• At least 15 people were killed after an earthquake struck southern Pakistan on Oct 7.

• A magnitude 4.6 earthquake, at a depth of 17.6 km, shook Afghanistan on May 19.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2025