A. Situation analysis
Description of disaster
Around 13:40 local time (UTC +4:30) on 26 October 2015, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Badakhshan Province in the north-east region of Afghanistan. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the quake’s epicentre was 82 km southeast of Feyzabad in the Hindu Kush mountain range and at 213 km in depth. The quake’s impact was felt beyond Afghanistan as damages and casualties have been reported in the western part of Pakistan and minor damage in India.
In Afghanistan, the earthquake has left a significant humanitarian impact, with at least 91 human lives lost and 425 people injured. There has been substantial damage to houses and property, mostly in the province of Badakhshan. So far, according to Afghan Red Crescent (ARCS), at least 5,457 houses have been confirmed damaged; 4,015 of them totally and 1,406 partially. The ARCS emergency operations centre (EOC) has collected information from 13 affected provinces that felt the most impact of the earthquake: Badakhshan, Baghlan, Kabul, Kapisa, Khost, Kunar, Laghman, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Paktya, Panjsher, Parwan and Takhar.
According to the latest OCHA flash update, 78,853 people are in need of assistance. Some residents of the affected areas have described the earthquake as the worst to have hit that particular region of the country in the last 30 years.