Deadly quake rocks Afghanistan leaving iconic Blue Mosque surrounded by rubble

By Masoud Popalzai, Catherine Nicholls and Laura Sharman, CNN

(CNN) — A powerful earthquake has rattled northern Afghanistan, killing more than a dozen people, injuring hundreds and damaging one the country’s most beautiful mosques.

Families were jolted awake in the early hours of Monday when the 6.3-magnitude quake struck near Mazar-i-Sharif, one of the most populated cities in the north of the country, at a shallow depth of 28 kilometers (17.4 miles), the United States Geological Survey said.

A massive search and rescue operation is underway, with a child seen pulled alive from the rubble in the north of the country in video released by the Ministry of Defense on Monday morning. The girl was taken to hospital in a critical condition, a spokesperson for the 209 Al-Fath Army Corp told CNN.

Mazar-i-Sharif’s iconic Blue Mosque was damaged in the quake, footage on social media geolocated by CNN revealed, with its base littered with rubble – early evidence of the destruction captured in the shadows before dawn.

The site is one of Afghanistan’s architectural treasures and a major point of pilgrimage, believed by some to be the resting place of Hazrat Ali, the fourth Caliph of Islam and the son-in-law of Prophet Mohammad.

Residents in at least nine provinces, including Kabul, lost power after electricity lines from Uzbekistan – a major supplier of power to Afghanistan – were severed.

The state-run energy company DABS also reported cut lines from Tajikistan to Kunduz province, plunging the area into total blackout. Teams are “working urgently to restore both routes,” it added.

Government officials put the death toll at 20 with more than 600 people injured across the Samangan, Balkh, Sar-e-Pul, Kunduz and Jawzjan provinces, in an update on Monday afternoon. The Afghanistan Disaster Management Authority also suggested casualties could rise further as “search and rescue operations are still ongoing.”

The National Authority for Disaster Preparedness said the quake struck at around 1 a.m. local time, impacting parts of the north, east and west, with the epicenter located in Samangan.

The United Nations confirmed it has teams on the ground “to assess needs and deliver urgent aid.”

India also offered support in the wake of the earthquake, according to a post from foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on X. He wrote, “Indian relief material for the earthquake impacted communities is being handed over today. Further supplies of medicines to reach soon.”

Afghanistan has endured a series of earthquake in recent years that have caused thousands of deaths and the USGS models estimate the shaking from Monday’s quake could result in hundreds of fatalities.

The impoverished country’s ability to respond to natural disasters has been further impeded by a shortage in international aid following the Taliban’s successful takeover in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US-led forces in 2021.

Damage to properties was also reported in the affected areas, the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority said, with accounts of broken windows and structural damage to homes.

One resident of Mazar-i-Sharif told CNN that her family “woke up terrified” after the quake struck, saying that her children ran “down the stairs screaming” when it occurred.

“I had never experienced such a strong earthquake in my life,” said Rahima, a former school teacher, 50, adding that it broke some of her windows and damaged the plaster on some of her walls.

“I am happy that my house is made of concrete in the city,” she told CNN. “I don’t know if houses made of mud have survived this earthquake in the outskirts of the city.”

The quake also blocked the Tashqurghan passage, a critical route from the capital of Kabul towards neighboring Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, but rescue teams have since cleared the route, the Ministry of Defense said.

In Tashqurghan district, rubble and debris can be seen strewn across roads as bodies are carried away following the quake, according to footage from state broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA). In another clip from RTA, people can be seen carefully making their way through the debris, scanning the ground with flashlights, with wrecked vehicles nearby.

The earthquake was felt in regions of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, three countries that border northern Afghanistan, USGS reported.

Back in August, at least 2,200 people were killed and thousands more were injured after a 6.0-magnitude quake caused widespread damage along a mountainous stretch of provinces in eastern Afghanistan.

The region was hit by at least five aftershocks, the strongest measuring 5.2 magnitude in the hours after the initial quake, according to USGS.

In October 2023, another 6.3-magnitude earthquake took place in western Afghanistan, killing more than 2,000.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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CNN’s Mariya Knight and Billy Stockwell contributed to this report.