100 feared dead in Afghan earthquake

Twin earthquakes and subsequent landslide buried more than 20 houses and may have killed up to 100 people in northern Afghanistan.

The districts of Burka, Jilga and Nahrin in Baghlan province suffered the most damage.Quakes caused a landslide in the Burka district massive enough to force rescuers to give up on using shovels and await bulldozers in order to unearth buildings and victims.

“There were no visible signs of buildings” underneat the landslide",said Jawed Basharat, a spokesman for the provincial police chief who was part of a team that examined the village after the slide.

They knew how many houses were buried only from information provided by area residents, who said between 25 and 30 houses disappeared in the landslide.

The head of the provincial disaster management department said several houses and a school had collapsed but he was unable to confirm the number of people trapped.

The tremors could be felt in the capital, Kabul, 170km (105 miles) away.

A 5.4-magnitude earthquake shook the Hindu Kush mountains of Aghanistan early Monday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That was followed 25 minutes later by a 5.7-magnitude temblor in the same area.