NORTHERN REGION EARTHQUAKE FLASH UPDATE The first 24 hours
3 November 2025
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Situation Overview
On Monday, 3 November 2025, at 00:59 local time, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurred in northern Afghanistan, near the Uzbekistan border. The epicentre was located approximately 22km west-south-west of Khulm town in Samangan province, and 30km east-south-east of Mazar-i-Sharif city in Balkh province.
Preliminary reports suggest that at least more than 20 deaths have been recorded (9 in Balkh and 11 in Samangan, with 945 people injured (616 in Balkh and 329 in Samangan). The number of casualties is expected to increase as the assessments progress. Severe shaking was also felt in Kabul, with tremors also reported in neighbouring countries. The tremors caused panic and terror for children and their families, forcing them to run from their homes in provinces across northern Afghanistan where temperatures are dropping as winter sets in. USGS PAGER reports that up to 110,000 people were exposed to very strong shaking and 1.53 million to strong shaking.
Preliminary assessments suggest that multiple homes have been partially or fully damaged, leaving the most affected households at risk of displacement and in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
Following an inter-agency Operational Coordination Team (OCT) meeting, that was held this morning, 10 joint assessment teams were deployed to the affected districts across both provinces.
As part of the immediate relief interventions, UNICEF and partners have deployed health teams to affected areas to support trauma care and scale up essential services, including primary healthcare, mental health support, and psychosocial counselling. UNICEF WASH extenders and social mobilizers are also on the ground, conducting assessments and initiating the immediate response.
