February 4, 1998 Afghanistan earthquake

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**February 4, 1998 Afghanistan earthquake**
Date	February 4, 1998
Magnitude	6.1 M_w
Depth:	33 kilometres (21 mi)
Epicenter location:	37.07° N 70.08° E
Countries/ regions affected	Afghanistan
Casualties:	Approximately 4000 dead, 10,000 injured and 15,000 homeless.

February 4, 1998 Afghanistan earthquake occurred in northern Afghanistan in the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region.^[1]^[2] The epicenter of the earthquake was located at Rostaq in the Takhar Province near Afghan-Tajikistan border.^[2] The magnitude of the earthquake was 6.1 on the Richter scale^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] and it lasted approximately 8 minutes and 7 seconds.^[3] Aftershocks continued for the next seven days.^[2] The earthquake was also felt at Tashkent and Dushanbe.^[1]

1 Cause
2 Casualties and damage
3 Relief efforts
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Cause

Afghanistan is situated on a major plate boundary.^[8] The location of the country is on the boundary where two tectonic plates, the Iranian Plate and the Eurasian Plate, meet.^[9] To the south of Afghanistan, the Indian Plate moves northwards and to the north the Eurasian Plate moves south-eastwards.^[8] The collision resulting from the movement of the plates has been under way for 50 million years.^[8] Due to this, Afghanistan is vulnerable to earthquakes.^[8] Both the Iranian Plate and the Eurasian Plate consists of continental crust, which can neither sink nor be destroyed.^[9] As a result, the rocks between the two plates are forced upwards to form mountains.^[9] The constant movement of the Iranian Plate results in an increase in pressure.^[9] The earthquake on February 4, 1998 was caused by this increase in pressure.^[9]

[edit] Casualties and damage

A spokesman for the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan, which controlled certain area, told the Afghan Islamic Press that they removed more than 3,500 bodies.^[2] According to the estimates by the Taliban government in Kabul, which ruled the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan at that time, 3,230 people died in the earthquake.^[2] Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) later put the death toll at 4,000.^[2] The anti-Taliban Afghan Embassy in Dushanbe asserted that approximately 15,000 people became homeless^[2]^[10] and dozens of villages were destroyed.^[2] Nearly 15,000 houses were destroyed primarily due to the landslides triggered by the quake.^[8] Approximately 10,000 people were injured^[9] and 6,725 livestock were killed in the earthquake.^[1]

[edit] Relief efforts

The Takhar Province was a remote area^[2]^[9] and road transport and telecommunication was poor.^[9] So it took three days for the news of the earthquake to reach Kabul.^[9] On February 7, reports of the quake began to reach the capital city.^[9] But relief work was hampered and delayed because of bad weather like fog, low cloud and snowfalls, blocked mountain tracks (due to snowfall and landslide) and the civil war.^[9]^[10] Reports indicated that survivors were living without shelter in subzero temperature and many were starving.^[9] Several villagers were making their way down the mountain tracks along with their herds of goats.^[9]

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement sent a team from Dushanbe to the affected region for relief efforts.^[2] The first international relief team reached the affected area on February 7^[2] and the first United Nations (UN) team arrived there on February 10.^[4] A convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reached the site on February 14 with 4,800 blankets, 800 quilts, 10 rolls of plastic sheeting and approximately 200 tents.^[4] Eleven days after the event, on February 16, helicopters were able to drop supplies to three isolated villages.^[9] The European Union (EU) offered £1.3m of relief aid including blankets, medical equipment, water and tents.^[2] The Taliban ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan offered 100 tonnes each of rice and wheat, and approximately £40,000 to the affected region.^[2]