HERAT, Afghanistan, Jan 18, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Rescue workers on Tuesday

searched for survivors after an earthquake in a remote western region of
Afghanistan killed at least 26 people and damaged hundreds of houses,
officials said.

   Monday's 5.3-magnitude shallow quake jolted the province of Badghis and
wrecked houses, mostly in Qadis district -- a rural area not easily
accessible by road.

   "The earthquake caused massive damage to houses, about 700 to 1,000 have
been damaged," Badghis provincial spokesman Baz Mohammad Sarwary said in a
video message.

   "There is the possibility that the casualties could increase."

   Images circulating on social media showed residents, including children,
searching through the rubble of collapsed homes for belongings and essential
items.

   Taliban government spokesman Inamullah Samangani said rescue workers were
helping find survivors and transferring the wounded to local hospitals.

   A Taliban team was in the area assisting in the relief work.

   Some of the victims, including women and children, died when the roofs of
their houses collapsed, officials said.

   The quake also inflicted damage on the residents of Muqr district but
details, including casualties, were still unavailable.

   The epicentre of the quake was near the city of Qala-i-Naw, the capital of
Badghis, less than 100 kilometres from the Turkmenistan border, according to
the United States Geological Survey.

   Afghanistan is already in the grip of a humanitarian disaster, worsened by
the Taliban takeover of the country in August when Western countries froze
international aid and access to assets held abroad.

   The United Nations has said it needs $5 billion in 2022 to avert a
humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan and offer the ravaged nation a future
after 40 years of suffering.

   A devastating drought has compounded the crisis, with earthquake-hit Qadis
one of the worst affected areas.

   Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush
mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian
tectonic plates.

   Even weak earthquakes can cause significant damage to poorly built homes
and buildings in the impoverished country.

   In 2015, nearly 280 people were killed when a powerful 7.5-magnitude
earthquake ripped across South Asia, with the bulk of the deaths in Pakistan.

   In that disaster, 12 young Afghan girls were crushed to death in a
stampede as they tried to flee their shaking school building.