Afghanistan Rocked Again By Earthquake: Location Almost Same As Wednesday's Earthquake, Five People Killed

Ruins of buildings due to the earthquake in Afghanistan on Wednesday. (Twitter/@Dragonvibee)

JAKARTA - Afghanistan, which lacked medical supplies to treat its 2,000 citizens injured in Wednesday's earthquake, was rocked again by Friday's aftershocks that killed five people.

The United States Geological Survey said Friday's earthquake had a magnitude of about 4.3. The location is almost exactly the same as the previous earthquake.

A health ministry official said the aftershock killed five people but there was no immediate word on the extent of damage and new injuries.

Authorities earlier ended a search in the remote southeastern mountains for survivors of the 6.1 magnitude earthquake that struck early Wednesday, about 160 km (100 miles) southeast of Kabul, near the Pakistan border. About 1,000 people are thought to have died in Wednesday's quake.

Meanwhile, some 2,000 people were injured and 10,000 houses partially or completely destroyed in Wednesday's quake, according to Mohammad Nassim Haqqani, a spokesman for the disaster ministry.

"The Ministry of Health is short of medicine, we need medical assistance and other necessities because this is a major disaster," he told Reuters as quoted by June 24.

The epicenter of the quake, which occurred at around 1.30 am local time, was in an arid mountainous region dotted with small settlements that have often been the scene of clashes during decades of Afghanistan's war.

Poor communication and only very basic avenues have hampered aid efforts in a country grappling with a humanitarian crisis that worsened sharply after the Taliban took control last August when US-led international troops withdrew.

The disaster was a major test for hardline Islamists, who are largely isolated; shunned by many because of concerns about human rights and cut off from much direct international assistance because of sanctions.

Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates all said on Thursday they planned to send aid. Supplies from Pakistan have crossed the border.

India, which has strained relations with the Taliban, said it had sent 27 tonnes of supplies on two flights for delivery to international aid agencies.

Earlier, Haqqani, speaking before the aftershock, said the search for victims had been halted, some 48 hours after the disaster struck.

"The search operation has been completed," he said.

He did not specify the reason. People have been pulled alive from the rubble of another earthquake after a much longer time.

It is known that much of South Asia is seismically active because a tectonic plate known as the Indian plate is pushing north onto the Eurasian plate.

In 2015, an earthquake struck Afghanistan's remote northeast, killing several hundred people in Afghanistan and nearby northern Pakistan.