HERAT, Afghanistan – Western Afghanistan was jolted by another powerful earthquake early Wednesday morning as search and rescue operations continued in the aftermath of deadly earthquakes that rocked the region four days’ prior.
The magnitude 6.3 earthquake on Wednesday was located just outside Herat and was reported at a depth of 5.6 miles (9 kilometers), according to the USGS.
Doctors Without Borders said Herat Regional Hospital received an additional 117 patients after the earthquake, and more medical supplies were being sent to the region to assist with the additional injuries.
There was no official word of deaths associated with the most recent quake on Wednesday.
The first deadly earthquakes were reported on Saturday morning when a magnitude 6.3 struck just after 11 a.m. local time. That earthquake was followed by several aftershocks, including another magnitude 6.3 earthquake, in the hours and days that followed.
Humanitarian efforts began after the earthquakes, with trauma kits being sent to hospitals and shelters being provided to families that lost their homes.
The Red Cross and Red Crescent also mobilized teams to the area, according to the World Health Organization.
Villages across the region were flattened during the earthquakes, as most of the homes are fragile due to being made mostly of mud and stone.
There are also conflicting reports of the number of people killed by the powerful earthquakes over the weekend.
Taliban officials initially said more than 2,400 people were killed in the earthquake, but revised that number to “over 1,000,” according to a report from Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The United Nations’ Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported nearly 1,300 deaths due to the earthquakes with nearly 1,700 injured.
OCHA said the number of casualties was expected to rise as search and rescue operations continued.