On Mon. Oct. 26, disaster struck at a magnitude of 7.5 in Asia. The earthquake was most severe in north-eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Some tremors were also felt in Northern India and Tajikistan.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the epicenter of the earthquake was in the mountainous Hindu Kush region, 45 miles south of Faizabad. Pakistan suffered the majority of the disaster with more than 200 dead and another 1,000 or so injured.

The Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said, “More [deaths] are expected.”

Due to the mountainous state of Hindu Kush, communication was cut off, making it possible for the death tolls to raise exponentially in the near future. In one of the more severely hit areas, Afghanistan, twelve girls were killed in a stampede to get out of their school.

Abdul Razaq Zinda, provincial head of the Afghan National Disaster Management Agency said, “They fell under the feet of other students.” In addition, he reported heavy damage in Takhar.

Many people in the earthquake on Monday, compared this earthquake to an earthquake on Oct. 8, 2005 which killed 73,000 people.

Tahir Shah, a Peshawar-based geologist said, “The earthquake in 2005 was at a depth of 26 km, while today’s earthquake was at a depth of 196 km.”

Although the major quake hit on Monday, aftershocks continued to occur, causing more injuries and deaths
which are prone to occur.