On 11 June 2012, two moderate earthquakes struck northern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, causing a large landslide. The landslide buried the town of Sayi Hazara, trapping 71 people. After four days of digging, only five bodies were recovered and the search was called off. Overall, 75 people were killed and 13 others were injured.

Tectonic setting

Afghanistan is situated within the broad and complex zone of collision between the

Arabian Plate The Arabian Plate is a minor tectonic plate in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres. It is one of the three continental plates (along with the African and the Indian Plates) that have been moving northward in geological history and colliding ...

, the

Indian Plate The Indian Plate (or India Plate) is a minor tectonic plate straddling the equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, the Indian Plate broke away from the other fragments of Gondwana , began ...

and the

Eurasian Plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...

. The western part of the country is subdivided into the North Afghan Platform to the north and a series of accreted

terrane In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust (geology), crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and Accretion (geology), accreted or "Suture (geology), sutured" to crust lying on another pla ...

s to the south. The North Afghan Platform has remained relatively tectonically stable since the

Variscan Orogeny The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Nomenclature The name ''Variscan'', comes f ...

during the Late Palaeozoic, when it became part of Eurasia. To the south there is a collage of continental fragments and magmatic arcs that have been progressively accreted, particularly in the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

period. The boundary between these two crustal areas is the major right-lateral strike-slip Harirud (or Herat) Fault, which is far less seismically active than the

Chaman Fault The Chaman Fault is a major, active geological fault in Pakistan and Afghanistan that runs for over 850 km.

that runs through the east of the country. To the north of the Harirud Fault, the near parallel Band-e Turkestan Fault does show signs of recent activity, also in a right-lateral sense.

Earthquakes

The first earthquake struck at 09:32 local time (05:02 UTC), registering a magnitude of 5.4 at depth. A second quake struck 25 minutes later, measuring 5.7 magnitude. The epicenter of both quakes was approximately southwest of Fayzabad. The quakes could be felt away in the capital of

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

Damage

The quakes caused a large portion of a mountain in the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Province ...

region to break off. An estimated, one

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

of land was covered in up to of debris by the landslide in the Burka District of Baghlan Province. The village of Sayi Hazara was hardest hit, buried under 30 to 100 meters of rock from the landslide.

Rescue efforts

According to Baghlan provincial governor Munshi Majeed, Sayi Hazara was completely destroyed by the landslide. He said there was little hope in finding any survivors in the 23 homes buried when a large portion of the nearby mountain broke free and inundated the village. Only one home survived. Rescue workers worked throughout 11 June and into the night, but heard no human noises. Baghlan Provincial Council member Haji Wakil told reporters, "The mountain was too big and strong... There is silence and silence alone." Majeed added, "This is a human tragedy. An entire village was lost... Two bulldozers are now there to recover the dead bodies but the amount of stones and debris that has hit the village makes the chances of survivors very slim." At the time of the earthquake, most adult males were away from the village working farmland, so the victims are mostly women and children. As of 13 June, only two bodies had been recovered. "We have to dig and find the 69 other bodies," said provincial spokesperson Mahmood Haqmal. "It is not an easy task, but the government has promised that they... will stay until they find the last bodies." On 14 June, the search was called off after only five bodies were recovered. The government said the area would be turned into a permanent memorial for the 66 people whose bodies were not found. Religious leaders recommended the area be renamed "Martyrs Hill" in honor of the dead. In total, more than 800 people helped with rescue efforts before the search was ended. In addition to Sayi Hazara, four other areas, across three districts, in Baghlan Province reported damage. In

Nahrin district Nahrin ( fa, نهرین) is a district in the central part of Baghlan province in Afghanistan. To the west lie the major towns of Baghlan and Puli Khumri. The district centre is Nahrin. The population of the district was estimated to be around ...

, three people were killed, while in Guzargahi Nur, one person lost his life. The United Nations and the

Afghan Red Crescent Society The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS; ps, د افغاني سرې میاشتې ټولنې; fa, جمعیت هلال احمر افغانی) is the Afghan affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The Societ ...

have sent humanitarian aid to the area.

References

External links

Latest humanitarian response information via ReliefWeb
* {{Earthquakes in Afghanistan Afghanistan earthquakes

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...