A 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif early on Monday, killing at least 10 people and injuring about 150, just months after a quake and strong aftershocks killed more than 2,200 people at the end of August.

Here is a look at why the war-shattered South Asian country experiences frequent tremors, and how their impact can be reduced:

Are earthquakes common in Afghanistan?

Hemmed in by rugged mountains, Afghanistan is prone to a range of natural disasters, but its earthquakes cause the most fatalities, killing about 560 people on average each year and causing annual damages estimated at $80 million.

Studies indicate at least 355 earthquakes with a magnitude higher than 5.0 have hit Afghanistan since 1990.

Why is Afghanistan prone to tremors?

Afghanistan is located on the edge of the Eurasian tectonic plate, which shares a transgression zone with the Indian plate — implying the two may converge or brush past each other — and is also influenced by the Arabian plate to its south, creating one of the world’s most tectonically active regions.

The northward movement of the Indian plate and its thrust against the Eurasian plate is usually responsible for Afghanistan’s numerous quakes.

Which areas are vulnerable?

Eastern and northeastern Afghanistan, especially regions along its borders with Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan, are particularly prone to earthquakes.

This includes heavily populated Kabul, which has the highest average estimated damage due to earthquakes, amounting to $17 million every year, according to a study.

Earthquakes are also particularly dangerous in Afghanistan’s mountains where they can trigger landslides, exacerbating loss of life and property.

Which were Afghanistan’s worst earthquakes?

Afghanistan has recorded around 100 “damaging” earthquakes since 1900.

Among the worst in recent years was a magnitude 6 quake in 2022 that killed 1,000 people. Multiple quakes in one month in 2023 together killed 1,000 people and destroyed entire villages.

One of Afghanistan’s largest earthquakes, with a magnitude of 7.5, struck in 2015, killing 399 people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Some of the greatest devastation was seen in 1998 as two earthquakes shook Afghanistan within three months – the first killing 2,300 people and the second 4,700.

How can the country build resilience?

Studies recommend new structures be built in an earthquake-resistant way and existing buildings be retrofitted to reduce chances of collapse.

Better monitoring and early warning systems must also be created for more timely alerts, while fault lines should be mapped using geospatial and remote sensing technologies to enable relocation of people in vulnerable areas, they suggest.

• Says Christians are being killed in record numbers in Nigeria.
• Vows the US will intervene to bring the violence to an end.
• Threatens military action against North African country.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the US military could deploy troops to Nigeria or carry out air strikes to stop what he called the killing of large numbers of Christians in the West African country.

Asked if he envisioned troops on the ground or air strikes in Nigeria, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “Could be. I mean, other things. I envisage a lot of things. 

“They’re killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria … They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen.”

Trump made the comment on Sunday evening as he headed back to Washington after a weekend at his vacation home in Florida.

Trump threatened on Saturday to take military action against Nigeria if Africa’s most populous country failed to crack down on the killing of Christians.

The US president’s threat of military action came a day after his administration added Nigeria back to a “Countries of Particular Concern” list of nations that the US says have violated religious freedoms. Other nations on the list include China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Pakistan.

No Tomahawks for Ukraine

On Ukraine, Trump said he was not really considering giving Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles. Asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One if he was not considering providing the weapons to Ukraine, Trump responded: “No, not really.”

On October 12, Trump had said he may offer long-range Tomahawk missiles that could be used by Kyiv if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not end the war in Ukraine. 

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to Israel that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed Zelenskiy’s request for weaponry, including Tomahawks. 

Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles), long enough to strike deep inside Russia, including Moscow.

The Kremlin has warned against any provision of Tomahawks to Ukraine, and Trump said they would be “a new step of aggression” if introduced into the war.

Trump avoids SC tariff arguments

He also said he will not attend the Supreme Court’s upcoming oral arguments concerning the legality of his global tariffs.

Justices have a Wednesday hearing scheduled for arguments on the tariffs case. Trump told reporters on Air Force One that despite his desire to be there, he does not want to create a distraction during the hearing.

“I wanted to go so badly,” Trump said as he flew back to Washington after a weekend in Florida. “I just don’t want to do anything to deflect the importance of that decision. … I don’t want to call a lot of attention to me. It’s not about me, it’s about our country.”

Arguments before the highest US court on Wednesday will centre on the legality of Trump’s sweeping global tariffs in a major test of one of his boldest assertions of executive power, regarding an issue that has been central to his economic and trade agenda.

The Supreme Court took up the Justice Department’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that Trump overstepped his authority in imposing most of his tariffs under a 1977 law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. 

The tariffs were challenged by various businesses and 12 US states.

Trump defended his use of tariffs to balance global trade flows, citing years of high duties charged by other countries on US imports. He said his tariffs had increased US revenues and driven the stock markets to a series of record highs.

“If we don’t have tariffs, we don’t have national security, and the rest of the world would laugh at us because they’ve used tariffs against us for years and took advantage of us,” he said.

“We were subject to being abused by a lot of other countries, including China. For years, not anymore. Tariffs have brought us tremendous national security,” he said.

• Tests ensure all parts can function to set up nuclear blast.
• Aim is to confirm that new weapons outperform older designs.
• Trump ordered testing after 33 years, signalling China, and Russia.

The nuclear weapons testing ordered by US President Donald Trump will not involve nuclear explosions at this time, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday.

“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests,” Wright said in an interview with Fox News. “These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call non-critical explosions.”

The testing involves all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they are functioning and can set up a nuclear blast, said Wright, whose agency is responsible for testing US nuclear weapons.

The tests will be carried out on new systems to help ensure replacement nuclear weapons are better than previous ones, Wright said on Fox News‘ “The Sunday Briefing.”

Just before he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday, Trump said he ordered the US military to immediately restart the process for testing nuclear weapons after a halt of 33 years, a move that appeared to be a message to rival nuclear powers China and Russia.

He reaffirmed his comments on Friday but did not answer directly when asked whether that would include underground nuclear tests that were common during the Cold War.

The United States conducted nuclear test explosions in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, Wright said, and collected detailed information and measurements on the blasts.

“With our science and our computation power, we can simulate incredibly accurately exactly what will happen in a nuclear explosion,” Wright said.

“Now we simulate what were the conditions that delivered that, and as we change bomb designs, what will they deliver?”