Earthquake today: Tremors of magnitude 4.2 jolts Afghanistan

An earthquake of magnitude 4.2 hit Afghanistan on Monday morning, according to National Center of Seismology.

This is the fourth consecutive earthquake to hit the country in the last four days.

Sharing the details in a post on X, NCS said that the earthquake occurred at a depth of 140 kiolometres at 08:54 hours (Indian Standard Time).

“EQ of M: 4.2, On: 19/05/2025 08:54:18 IST, Lat: 36.41 N, Long: 70.94 E, Depth: 140 Km, Location: Afghanistan,” NCS said.

Afghanistan has a history of powerful earthquakes, and the Hindu Kush Mountain range is a geologically active area where quakes occur every year, according to the Red Cross.

As per the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Afghanistan remains highly vulnerable to natural disasters, including seasonal flooding, landslides and earthquakes.

Earlier on Sunday, an earthquake of magnitude 4.5 had jolted Afghanistan. As per the NCS, the earthquake occurred at a depth of 150km.

These frequent earthquakes in Afghanistan cause damage to vulnerable communities, which are already grappling with decades of conflict and under-development and have left them with little resilience to cope with multiple simultaneous shocks, UNOCHA noted.

Afghanistan sits on numerous fault lines between the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates, with a fault line also running directly through Herat. Its location on several active fault lines along the collision zone between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates makes it a seismically active region. These plates meet and collide, causing frequent seismic activity.