An earthquake of magnitude 6.5 that struck parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan earlier this week has led to the death of 21 people, according to officials. The death toll increased by eight in remote areas on Thursday. The temblor shook the South Asian region on Tuesday night, resulting in ten fatalities in Afghanistan and eleven in Pakistan. The roofs of hundreds of homes collapsed, leading to more than 130 reported injuries. Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, was the most affected region. Shafiullah Rahimi, a spokesperson for the Taliban Ministry of Natural Disaster Management, reported that 800 houses were damaged in Afghanistan, where the quake killed ten and injured sixty.

The US Geological Survey has reported that the epicenter of the quake was 40 kilometers (25 miles) south-southeast of the Jurm district in Afghanistan’s mountainous Hindukush region, bordering Tajikistan and Pakistan. The quake occurred 188 kilometers (116 miles) below the Earth's surface. The region is known for its violent seismic disturbances, with a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in 2005 resulting in the deaths of thousands of people in disputed Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan.