On 3 November 2025, at 00:59 AFT (20:29 UTC, 2 November), an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 on the moment magnitude scale (Mw) struck northern Afghanistan.[1] Around 31 people were killed, 1,172 were injured and many homes collapsed in Balkh and Samangan Provinces.
Much of Afghanistan is situated in a broad zone of continental deformation within the Eurasian Plate. Seismic activity in Afghanistan is influenced by the subduction of the Arabian Plate to the west and the oblique subduction of the Indian Plate in the east. The subduction rate of the Indian Plate along the continental convergent boundary is estimated to be 39mm/yr or higher. Transpression due to the plates interacting is associated with high seismicity within the shallow crust. Seismicity is detectable to a depth of 300km (190mi) beneath Afghanistan due to plate subduction.[2] These earthquakes beneath the Hindu Kush are the result of movement on faults accommodating detachment of the subducted crust.[3] Within the shallow crust, the Chaman Fault represents a major transform fault associated with large shallow earthquakes that forms the transpressional boundary between the Eurasian and Indian Plates. This zone consists of seismically active thrust and strike-slip faults that have accommodated crustal deformation since the beginning of the formation of the Himalayan orogeny. The Northern Afghanistan Platform has one prominent active fault zone, the 220 km long west-east trending Alburz–Mormul fault that runs to the south of Mazar-e Sharif and is formed of thrust faults.[4]
The earthquake resulted in at least 31 fatalities,[8] 1,172 injuries, 305 homes destroyed and 1,004 others damaged. [9] There were 12 deaths and 616 injuries in Balkh Province while 11 died and 329 were injured in Samangan Province.[10][11] In Balkh Province, all districts reported structural damage.[12] Four fatalities and many injuries were reported in Sholgara District.[13] In Mazar-i-Sharif, dozens of people were injured by mass panic, broken windows and collapsing walls, many of them seriously,[14] and at least one house was badly damaged.[6] In a nearby village, many homes and walls reportedly collapsed.[15] The Mausoleum of Imam Ali[12] and the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace in Baghlan were damaged.[16]
In Samangan Province, a landslide buried a section of Asian Highway 7 in Khulm District, killing 10 people and injuring 43 others.[17] More than 200 houses in the district were destroyed while more than 1,000 others were damaged.[18] One death also occurred each in Aybak and Hazrati Sultan District.[19] The laboratory of Samangan Provincial Hospital collapsed, destroying critical medical equipment.[16] At least two other medical facilities were also damaged.[20] Power lines connecting Afghanistan with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were damaged,[21] causing outages in nine provinces of Afghanistan including in Kabul.[22] About 800 homes were partially destroyed in Badakhshan Province, with the worst damage occurring in the Chogani area.[23] Over 500 homes were damaged or destroyed in other parts of the country.[24] Some damage was reported in Faryab, Sar-e-Pol, Jowzjan[25] and Baghlan Provinces.[26]
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