UN: Afghan quake death toll reaches 26, including children

The United Nations on Tuesday raised the death toll from twin earthquakes in western Afghanistan the day before to 26, saying three villages of around 800 houses were flattened. At least four people were injured and the dead included women and children.

Hundreds of mud-brick houses that were destroyed were already vulnerable due to heavy rains in the country. The US Geological Survey on Monday registered a magnitude 5.3 quake at 2 p.m. and a second, magnitude 4.9 at 4 p.m. local time. They struck 41 kilometers east and 50 kilometers southeast of Qala-e-Naw, the provincial capital in Badghis.