The province’s disaster management chief Mosa Ashari told reporters: “So far more than 1,000 injured women, children, and elderly citizens have been included in our records, and about 120 people have lost their lives.”
Video footage said to be from Herat Central Hospital showed numerous casualties linked up to portable intravenous drips being treated on the tarmac outside the main building - a sign of the sudden and overwhelming demand for emergency treatment.
Other moving pictures show scenes of devastation in Herat’s Injil district where the rubble of destroyed buildings blocked roads, hampering rescue efforts.
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes - especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range as it lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.
In June last year, the province of Paktika was hit by a 5.9 magnitude quake which killed more than 1,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless.
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