The United States Geological Survey said the epicentre was 40 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of the region's largest city of Herat, and was followed by five aftershocks with magnitudes of 5.5, 4.7, 6.3, 5.9 and 4.6.
Crowds of residents and shopkeepers fled buildings in the city at around 11:00 am (0630 GMT) as the quakes began, causing 25 injuries and a single fatality, according to a Taliban government spokesman.
"We were in our offices and suddenly the building started shaking," 45-year-old Herat resident Bashir Ahmad told AFP. "Wall plasters started to fall down and the walls got cracks, some walls and parts of the building collapsed."
"I am not able to contact my family, network connections are disconnected. I am too worried and scared, it was horrifying," he said.
National Disaster Management Authority spokesman Mullah Jan Sayeq told AFP the initial toll was "preliminary" and he feared it would rise as "in the rural and mountainous areas there have been landslides as well".
"Currently, we don't have all the information and details," he said.
- 'Disaster potentially widespread' -
Crowds of women and children stood out in the wide streets of Herat, away from tall buildings, in the moments after the first quake and aftershocks which continued for over an hour.
Hundreds of fatalities were possible, according to a USGS preliminary report.
"Significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread. Past events with this alert level have required a regional or national level response," it said.
USGS had earlier reported the first quake's magnitude as 6.2. It had a shallow depth of just 14 kilometres, it said.
Herat -- 120 kilometres east of the border with Iran -- is considered the cultural capital of Afghanistan.
It is the capital of Herat province which is home to an estimated population of 1.9 million, according to 2019 World Bank data.
In June last year, more than 1,000 people were killed and tens of thousands made homeless after a 5.9-magnitude quake -- the deadliest in Afghanistan in nearly a quarter of a century -- struck the impoverished province of Paktika.
In March of this year, 13 people were killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan by a magnitude 6.5 quake, which hit near Jurm in northeastern Afghanistan.
The country is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
Afghanistan is already in the grip of a grinding humanitarian crisis, following the widespread withdrawal of foreign aid since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
Magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Papua New Guinea
Sydney (AFP) Oct 7, 2023 -
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck northeastern Papua New Guinea on Saturday, the United States Geological Survey said, with no immediate reports of damage.
The strong quake had a depth of 53 kilometres (33 miles) and hit at around 7:30 pm (0830 GMT) with the epicentre about 56 kilometres southeast of the coastal town of Madang, the USGS said.
An aftershock of equal magnitude hit off the coast of Madang minutes later, the USGS said.
Earthquakes are common in Papua New Guinea, but rarely cause widespread damage.
Outside major towns and cities, most areas are sparsely populated, and what buildings there are tend to be made of wood.
But some quakes are more destructive.
In April, at least seven people were killed when a 7.0 magnitude quake hit a jungle-clad area on the Pacific island nation.
About 180 homes were destroyed in the Karawari area, near the quake's epicentre.
In September last year, 10 people were killed when a 7.6-magnitude earthquake levelled hundreds of homes, split roads and caused power outages across the rugged north of the country.
Magnitude 6.0 quake hits Mexico
Mexico City (AFP) Oct 7, 2023 -
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca on Friday night, causing some damage and power outages, officials said.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the National Seismological Service said the epicenter of the quake was in the town of Matias Romero.
Senior regional government official Jesus Romero told journalists no deaths had been reported but the tremor caused damage to stretches of a highway leading to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a narrow stretch of Mexican territory that separates the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans.
Damage was also reported in the city of Oaxaca, where a hospital suffered cracked walls and power outages were reported.
A seismic alarm was activated in Mexico City more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) away, where dozens of people evacuated their homes.
The mayor of the capital, home to 9.2 million people, Marti Batres, said on X that "a slight tremor was felt" in the city, adding that "no damage has been reported so far."
Mexico sits in the world's most seismically and volcanically active zone, known as the Ring of Fire, where the Pacific plate meets surrounding tectonic plates.
In September 2017, a 7.1-magnitude quake killed 369 people, the majority in Mexico City. And an 8.1-magnitude quake killed about 10,000 people in 1985.
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