Afghan Earthquake: 7.5-Magnitude Tremor Kills at Least 100 in South Asia

An Afghan earthquake struck near the country's border with Pakistan on Monday, killing more than 100 people as the 7.5-magnitude quake was felt as far away as northern India.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the tremor's epicenter was located 28 miles north of Alaqahdari-ye Kiran wa Munjan in Afghanistan. The area is located in the Hindu Kush mountains in northeast Afghanistan, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The New York Times reported Monday that 74 people died in Afghanistan and 52 more perished in Pakistan, but those death tolls are expected to increase.

People ran into the streets as the quake shook buildings from Kabul to Islamabad to Peshawar for at least two minutes.

Afghanistan's chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, gathered his senior executives after the earthquake for an emergency meeting to deal with the aftermath.

"This is the strongest earthquake that has happened in our country in recent years," he said, according to The Times.

Reuters reported that at least 12 girls were trampled to death in a stampede to get out of their school in the northeastern Afghan province of Takhar.

"They fell under the feet of other students," Abdul Razaq Zinda, provincial head of the Afghan National Disaster Management Agency, said, according to Reuters.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a Twitter message of support on Monday.

Heard about strong earthquake in Afghanistan-Pakistan region whose tremors have been felt in parts of India. I pray for everyone's safety.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 26, 2015

The Wall Street Journal noted that the earthquake was felt for several seconds in India's capital of New Delhi as well.

"Active faults and their resultant earthquakes in northern Pakistan and adjacent parts of India and Afghanistan are the direct result of the convergence between the India and Eurasia plates," a statement from the USGS read.

"This collision is causes uplift that produces the highest mountain peaks in the world including the Himalayan, the Karakoram, the Pamir, and the Hindu Kush ranges. Earthquakes such as this event, with focal depths between 70 and 300 kilometers, are commonly termed 'intermediate-depth' earthquakes," the statement continued.

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