An earthquake of 4.1 magnitude on Richter Scale jolted Afghanistan on Sunday, a statement by the National Center for Seismology said.
The quake struck at 6:23 pm local time in the middle of the sea and had a depth of 10 kilometers, the USGS said. Its epicenter was located 130 miles (209 kilometers) south-southwest of George Town in the Cayman Islands.
The US National Tsunami Warning Center said there is no tsunami alert for the US mainland but issued a tsunami advisory for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, which was later cancelled.
The sounding of alarms in Puerto Rico’s northwest region caused people to leave coastal areas and caused heavy traffic, according to local media.
Hazard Management Cayman Islands urged residents near the coast to move inland and to higher ground. It said wave heights of 0.3 to 1 meter are expected.
Puerto Rico Gov Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon said in a statement she is in contact with emergency agencies after the tsunami advisory, but did not recommend anyone leave the coast.
The Dominican government also issued a tsunami alert and recommended residents on the coast move to high areas “of more than 20 meters of altitude and 2 kilometers inland.” But it later cancelled the alert.
The Cuban government requested people to leave beachfront areas. The Bahamas Department of Meteorology also issued a tsunami advisory, but urged its residents only to be “vigilant.”
Honduran authorities said there are no immediate reports of damages, but urged its residents to stay away from beaches.
Later, the US government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said “tsunami waves reaching 1 to 3 meters above the tide level are possible along some coasts of Cuba.”
“Actual amplitudes at the coast may vary from forecast amplitudes due to uncertainties in the forecast and local features,” the NOAA said in a report.
An earthquake of 4.1 magnitude on Richter Scale jolted Afghanistan on Sunday, a statement by the National Center for Seismology said.
The earthquake happened at a depth of 10km, making it susceptible to aftershocks.
In a post on X, NCS said, "EQ of M: 4.1, On: 09/02/2025 00:05:07 IST, Lat: 34.28 N, Long: 68.36 E, Depth: 10 Km, Location: Afghanistan."
Shallow earthquakes are more dangerous than deeper ones due to their greater energy release closer to the Earth's surface, causing stronger ground shaking and increased damage to structures and casualties, compared to deeper earthquakes which lose energy as they travel to the surface.
Earlier on February 4, an earthquake of 4.3 magnitude on the Richter Scale hit Afghanistan, a statement by the National Center for Seismology said.
The region experiences frequent earthquakes, as another earthquake of magnitude 4.3 jolted Afghanistan earlier in the day.
According to the NCS, the earthquake struck Afghanistan on Tuesday at 01:42 AM, Indian Standard Time. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres.
As per the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Afghanistan remains highly vulnerable to natural disasters, including seasonal flooding, landslides and earthquakes.
These frequent earthquakes in Afghanistan cause damage to vulnerable communities, which are already grappling with decades of conflict and under-development and have left them with little resilience to cope with multiple simultaneous shocks, UNOCHA noted.
Afghanistan has a history of powerful earthquakes, with the Hindu Kush Mountain range being a geologically active area where quakes occur every year, as per the Red Cross.
Afghanistan sits on numerous fault lines between the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates, with a fault line also running directly through Herat.
