Magnitude 5.2 earthquake rocks Afghanistan within 24 hours

As per the NCS, the earthquake occurred at a depth of 180km.

In a post on X, the NCS said, "EQ of M: 5.2, On: 27/03/2025 13:58:21 IST, Lat: 36.32 N, Long: 71.08 E, Depth: 180 Km, Location: Afghanistan."

This earthquake was an aftershock of another one of magnitude 4.6 that occurred earlier in the day.

In a post on X, NCS said, "EQ of M: 4.6, On: 27/03/2025 08:38:19 IST, Lat: 36.36 N, Long: 70.93 E, Depth: 160 Km, Location: Afghanistan."

Earlier, on March 23, an earthquake of magnitude 4.2 jolted the region.

"EQ of M: 4.2, On: 23/03/2025 11:50:29 IST, Lat: 36.31 N, Long: 71.05 E, Depth: 138 Km, Location: Afghanistan," the NCS said.

Earlier on March 21, a 4.9-magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan on Friday, according to the National Center for Seismology (NCS).

The earthquake occurred at a depth of 160 km, as per NCS data.

In a post on X, NCS stated, "EQ of M: 4.9, On: 21/03/2025 01:00:57 IST, Lat: 36.48 N, Long: 71.45 E, Depth: 160 Km, Location: Afghanistan."

As per the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Afghanistan remains highly vulnerable to natural disasters, including seasonal flooding, landslides and earthquakes.

These frequent earthquakes in Afghanistan cause damage to vulnerable communities, which are already grappling with decades of conflict and under-development and have left them with little resilience to cope with multiple simultaneous shocks, UNOCHA noted.

Afghanistan has a history of powerful earthquakes, and the Hindu Kush Mountain range is a geologically active area where quakes occur every year, according to the Red Cross.

Afghanistan sits on numerous fault lines between the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates, with a fault line also running directly through Herat.

When earthquakes strike, their magnitude is important, but so is their depth, with shallow earthquakes wrecking more damage than those deeper into the Earth. Afghanistan is unfortunately prone to these shallow earthquakes due to the region's tectonic plates often slipping past one another as opposed to colliding directly.