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Afghanistan: Earthquake - May 1994

Disaster description

An earthquake struck at 16:31 local time on May 1st, 1994 with a magnitude 6.3 ms, affecting the north-western provinces of Balkh and Jowzjan, district of Mazar-i-sharif, with a total population of about 250,000. A USGS report indicated that the region of Termez (Uzbekistan) as the epicenter, latitude 37.0 degrees north, longitude 67.0 degrees east, depth shallow, at about 340 km northwest of Kabul. The most affected villages are in a flood plain on the southern bank of Amu Darya river, where many of the inhabitants are returnees from Iran and Pakistan. Preliminary figures indicate 160 deaths, 330 injured, with 20,000 houses and 260 public buildings damaged or destroyed. (UN DHA, 13 May 1994)

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