Spera District is situated in the most southwestern part of Khost Province, Afghanistan. It borders with Paktia Province to the south and west, Shamal District to the north. The district is within the heartland of the Zadran tribe of Pashtuns. [1] To the east it borders Nadir Shah Kot and Tani districts as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. The population of Spera District is around 21,500 people. The district center is the village of Spera, situated in the central part of the district.
On 16 April 2022, Pakistani airstrikes targeted several villages in Spera District, including Afghan-Dubai, Pasa Mela, Mir Sapar, Mandata, and Kanai, and struck refugee camps belonging to internally displaced persons from Waziristan, killing at least 41 people, mainly women and children, and wounding 22 others. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Spera was one of the districts most affected by the 2022 Afghanistan earthquake. Approximately 500 homes were destroyed, and 40 people were killed, with 95 others injured in the district. [7] [8] Many houses constructed primarily of mud and wood were razed to the ground. [7] Heavy rain and the earthquake contributed to landslides that destroyed entire hamlets. [9]
In August 2022, new "earthquake-resistant houses" began to be constructed in the district for victims of the earthquake. [10] The project involves the establishment of 300 houses here and 2,000 homes in both the Gayan and Barmal districts of neighboring Paktika Province. [10]
Khōst is the capital of Khost Province in Afghanistan. It is the largest city in the southeastern part of the country, and also the largest in the region of Loya Paktia. To the south and east of Khost lie Waziristan and Kurram in Pakistan. Khost is the home of Shaikh Zayed University. The Khost Airport is located in the eastern area of the city.
Khost is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan located in the southeastern part of the country. Khost consists of thirteen districts and the city of Khost serves as the capital of the province. Historically, Khost used to be a part of Paktia and a larger region surrounding Khost is still referred to as Loya Paktia.
Paktika is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. Forming part of the larger Loya Paktia region, Paktika has a population of about 789,000, mostly ethnic Pashtuns. The town of Sharana serves as the provincial capital, while the most populous city is Urgun.
Barmal District is a district of Paktika Province, Afghanistan. It shares a border with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, Pakistan. The Angur Ada is the official border checkpoint and border crossing between the people of Paktika and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The government office of Barmal District is located in Newai Ada.
Gayan District is a district of Paktika Province, Afghanistan. The estimated population in 2019 was 46,977 people. The district is within the heartland of the Zadran tribe of Pashtuns.
On 11 June 2012, two moderate earthquakes struck northern Afghanistan, causing a large landslide. The landslide buried the town of Sayi Hazara, trapping 71 people. After four days of digging, only five bodies were recovered and the search was called off. Overall, 75 people were killed and 13 others were injured.
Events in the year 2017 in Afghanistan.
An earthquake struck Pakistan's province of Balochistan near the city of Harnai on 7 October 2021. The moment magnitude 5.9 Mww quake struck in the early morning at 03:01 local time, killing at least 42 people and injuring 300 others. The earthquake occurred just one day before the anniversary of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.
Events in the year 2022 in Afghanistan.
An earthquake measuring Mw 4.9, followed by a 5.3 Mw mainshock struck Badghis Province, Afghanistan, on January 17, 2022. The earthquake led to a large number of casualties for the tremor's magnitude, with 30 dead and 49 injured. The earthquake destroyed hundreds of homes in northwestern Afghanistan.
On 16 April 2022, the Pakistani military conducted predawn airstrikes on multiple targets in Afghanistan's Khost and Kunar provinces. Afghan officials said the attacks killed at least 47 civilians and injured 23 others. Initial reports described the attacks as either rocket strikes or aerial strikes carried out by a number of aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force, and Afghan officials claimed the operation was carried out by Pakistani military helicopters and jets. Pakistani officials initially denied Pakistan carried out the airstrikes, but Pakistani security officials later claimed the airstrikes involved drone strikes from inside Pakistani airspace, and that no aircraft were deployed. Some reports said the Pakistani airstrikes also targeted parts of Paktika Province.
In May 2022, floods affected several parts of Afghanistan, killing 429 people. It was later reported the 182 people died due to flooding in August, as well as 40 people in July and 19 in June. From June to August, just as the country was recovering from an earthquake in Khost Province, floods hit again, killing 19 in June, 39 in July, and 182 others in August.
A 4.0-kilometre (2.5 mi) deep earthquake measuring magnitude (Mw ) 6.2 struck southeastern Afghanistan on 22 June 2022 at 01:24:36 AFT. The earthquake had a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). There were 1,052–1,163 deaths and 1,627–2,976 injured in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The worst affected provinces in Afghanistan were Paktika, Paktia, Khost and Nangarhar. Casualties and damage also occurred in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. At least 10,000 homes collapsed or were severely damaged. The earthquake's shallow hypocenter, proximity to populated areas and low building quality contributed to its destructive effects. Shaking was felt over 500 km (310 mi) away by at least 119 million people, including Pakistan's Punjab and parts of India and Iran.
From January to October 2022, excessive rainfall and widespread monsoon flooding occurred in the South Asian countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It has become the region's deadliest floods since 2020, with over 4,700 people dead.
On September 5, 2022, a reverse faulting earthquake with a moderate magnitude of 5.1 struck Kunar Province, Afghanistan, close to the city of Jalalabad.
Events in the year 2023 in Afghanistan.
Four large earthquakes measuring Mww 6.3 each and their aftershocks affected Herat Province in western Afghanistan in early October 2023. The first two earthquakes occurred on 7 October at 11:11 AFT and 11:42 AFT near the city of Herat, followed by many aftershocks. On 11 and 15 October, two other magnitude 6.3 earthquakes struck the same area. Thrust faulting was associated with these earthquakes. The World Health Organization estimated 1,482 fatalities, 2,100 injuries, 43,400 people affected and 114,000 people requiring humanitarian aid due to the mainshock. The 11, 15 and 28 October earthquakes caused a combined seven deaths and 344 injuries.