Two small quakes shake Afghanistan

Two small earthquakes shook Afghanistan's Hindu Kush region and capital Kabul.

KABUL: Two small earthquakes shook Afghanistan's mountainous Hindu Kush region in the space of half an hour on Monday, with tremors felt in the capital Kabul.

The first quake, with a magnitude of 5.4, struck at 9:32 am (0502 GMT) at a depth of 48 kilometres (30 miles) with the epicentre around 160 kilometres southwest of the town of Feyzabad, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Around 25 minutes later the second quake hit in almost exactly the same place, with a magnitude of 5.6 and a depth of 31 kilometres, according to the USGS.

Buildings were felt to shake slightly in Kabul, around 170 kilometres to the south, during both quakes.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

Northern Afghanistan and Pakistan are frequently hit by earthquakes, especially around the Hindu Kush range, which lies near the collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in Pakistan in October 2005 killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million.