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Afghanistan Earthquake Death Toll at 2,000

Afghan children rest under a blanket beside damaged houses after earthquake in Sarbuland village of Zendeh Jan district of Herat province on October 7,2023. (Photo by Mohsen KARIMI / AFP)
Afghan children rest under a blanket beside damaged houses after earthquake in Sarbuland village of Zendeh Jan district of Herat province on October 7,2023. (Photo by Mohsen KARIMI / AFP)
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Afghanistan Earthquake Death Toll at 2,000

Afghan children rest under a blanket beside damaged houses after earthquake in Sarbuland village of Zendeh Jan district of Herat province on October 7,2023. (Photo by Mohsen KARIMI / AFP)
Afghan children rest under a blanket beside damaged houses after earthquake in Sarbuland village of Zendeh Jan district of Herat province on October 7,2023. (Photo by Mohsen KARIMI / AFP)

The death toll from strong earthquakes that shook western Afghanistan rose to 2,000, said a Taliban spokesman Sunday.

A powerful magnitude-6.3 earthquake followed by strong aftershocks killed dozens of people in western Afghanistan on Saturday, the country's national disaster authority said.

Abdul Wahid Rayan, spokesman of the Ministry of Information and Culture, said the death toll from the earthquake in Herat is higher than originally reported. About six villages have been destroyed, and hundreds of civilians have been buried under the debris, he said while calling for urgent help.

Herat province borders Iran. The quake also was felt in the nearby Afghan provinces of Farah and Badghis, according to local media reports.

Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban-appointed deputy prime minister for economic affairs, expressed his condolences to the dead and injured in Herat and Badghis.

The Taliban urged local organizations to reach earthquake-hit areas as soon as possible to help take the injured to hospital, provide shelter for the homeless, and deliver food to survivors. They said security agencies should use all their resources and facilities to rescue people trapped under debris.

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Russia Condemns Israel's Killing of Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a religious procession to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan/File Photo
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a religious procession to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan/File Photo
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Russia Condemns Israel's Killing of Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a religious procession to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan/File Photo
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a religious procession to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs November 14, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan/File Photo

Russia strongly condemns Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the foreign ministry said on Saturday, calling on Israel to stop hostilities in Lebanon.

"This forceful action is fraught with even greater dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East," the ministry said in a statement.

Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday Nasrallah had been killed, issuing a statement hours after the Israeli military said it had eliminated him in an airstrike on the group's headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday.
Nasrallah's death marked a devastating blow to Hezbollah as it reels from an intense campaign of Israeli attacks, and even as the news emerged some of the group's supporters were desperately hoping that somehow he was still alive, Reuters reported.

"God, I hope it's not true. It's a disaster if it's true," said Zahraa, a young woman who had been displaced overnight from Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
"He was leading us. He was everything to us. We were under his wings," she told Reuters tearfully by phone.
She said other displaced people around her fainted or began to scream when they received notifications on their phone of Hezbollah's statement confirming his death.
Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah since the group's previous leader was killed in an Israeli operation in 1992, was known for his televised addresses - watched carefully by both the group's backers and its opponents.
"We're still waiting for him to come out on the television at 5 p.m. and tell us that everything is okay, that we can go back home," Zahraa said.
In some parts of Beirut, armed men came into shops and told owners to shut them down, witnesses said. It was not immediately clear what faction the armed men belonged to.
Sprays of gunshots were heard in the Hamra district in the city's west as mourners fired in the air, residents there said. Crowds were heard chanting, "For you, Nasrallah!"