Damaged houses are pictured following an earthquake in Gayan district, Paktika province on June 22, 2022. Economic losses from the event are anticipated to be minimal as the primarily residential area has seen little development as it is rural and mountainous, CoreLogic reported. (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)
In late June 2022, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck 28 miles from the capital of Khōst, Afghanistan, while greater damage was reported in provinces near the Pakistan border and at least 1,000 deaths and 1,600 injuries have been reported, according to CoreLogic.
The June earthquake was the deadliest to hit that part of the county in more than a decade, the property intelligence company reported. The high number of fatalities was due in part to construction materials used for residential properties in the area, which sees homes made predominately from adobe blocks or mud. Both materials are highly susceptible to lateral forces that impact buildings during quakes.
(Credit: Bloomberg) Further, the time the earthquake occurred (1:42 am local) contributed to the death toll, according to CoreLogic. This made it more probable that people were in their homes instead of more earthquake-resistant public spaces or buildings.
The area is not known for experiencing large earthquakes, with just seven magnitude 6.0 or larger quakes in the area since modern record keeping started. However, more than 35 million people were exposed to the shaking, with approximately 1 million experiencing "moderate or greater" shaking.
Economic losses from the event are anticipated to be minimal as the primarily residential area has seen little development as it is rural and mountainous.
Search and rescue operations continue in Paktika, Afghanistan on June 22. (Credit: Getty Images Agency/Anadolu) "Relative to more seismically hazardous parts of the globe with strong building codes and earthquake-resilient construction, like Japan or California, a maginitude 5.9 earthquake is not severe enough cause wide-spread damage," Jon Schneyer, senior catastrophe response manager for CoreLogic, wrote in a report. "In more developed nations, material building damage is not expected for earthquakes under maganitude 6.5. Modern building codes, such as the International Building Code, construction materials and practices are utilized to mitigate the effects of moderate to extreme ground shaking."
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